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FLYING SPARKS 



AS TOLD BY 



A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR 



m; e. munsell 



KANSAS CITY: 

TIERNAN-DART PRINTING COMPANY 

1914 






COPYRIGHT 1014 

BY 

M. E. MUNSELL 



)CU3871:G4 



OCT 23 1914 



i^itrattntt 



TO THE ''CONDUCTOR'S PRIDE, 
HIS NIECE, 

EILEKN JAMES 




THE CONDUCTOR. 




'THE NIECE," UNCLE'S PRIDE. 



PREFACE. xi 



PREFACE. 

TO THE PUBLIC: 

In writing this letter, the history of my trip from Kan- 
sas City to Hot Springs through Kansas, Oklahoma and 
Arkansas, to my niece, it was not my intention to get it 
before the public. However, so many of my friends 
wanted a copy that they insisted on my having it pub- 
lished, and those who have read a portion of the manu- 
script said it was too good not to put before the reading 
public, as it was so interesting and instructive, as well 
as historical. 

In compiling the facts, I obtained this information 
first-handed from people who lived in towns along the 
route. Many of them were of the old frontier school, 
who had seen and realized the facts in actual life. 
''AVithout a love for books, the richest man is poor." 

''The world is dead without happiness." The sweet- 
ness in this life" is found in the way you live it. If we 
could all look on the bright side of life, how much hap- 
pier we would be. A good hearty laugh is a good thing. 
It aids digestion and makes you feel as though life is 



xii PREFACE. 

worth living. Therefore, in the caboose end of the book, 
I have some riddles and funny sayings. A love of poetry 
is a good trait in man, so I have some comic, as well as 
sentimental, poems which will please you. One dose of 
this mixture is guaranteed to cure the worst case of blues. 
Our family physician alwaj^s told us it was the last dose 
of medicine that cured. Therefore, if you will take every 
dose throughout this book, it will leave a good taste in 
your mouth. This book is like a ripe w^atermelon be- 
cause it is re(a)d all the way through. When opened, 
you will find the dainty sweetness within. Guaranteed 

by the author. 

M. E. MUNSELL, 

Kansas City, Missouri 



CONTENTS. xiii 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



DEDICATION. 
PREFACE. 

SYNOPSIS OF BOOK. 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
LETTER TO THE NIECE. 

A LOVE STORY AS IT HAPPENED IN KANSAS 

LONG AGO. 
AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN. 
THE WOOING OF DANIEL AND ELMARY. 

REFLECTIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR. 
FUNNY SAYINGS AND RIDDLES. 
GEMS FROM MARCUS AURELIUS. 
SYNOPSIS OF POETRY. 
POETRY. 



xiv SYNOPSIS. 



Y N P S I 



Hefflebower's Six Buxom Daughters at Bucyrus. 



OSAWATOMIE. 
John Brown Fought First Battle of the Civil War 
Here. 



A Love Story as it Happened in Kansas Long Ago. 



Charlie Pullman at Paola. 



YATES CENTER, KAS. 
More Prairie Hay Shipped From This Point Than 
From Any Other Town in the United States. 



BUFFALO, KAS. 
More Ancient Fire Arms and Implements of War Here 
Than Any Place West of Chicago ; Also One of the Larg- 
est Brick Plants in the West. 



How to Bore, Case and Shoot an Oil Well From Start 
to Finish. Very Interesting and Dangerous Work, 



NEODESHA. 

The Home at One Time of the Notorious Bender 
Family. 

Also the Largest Oil Refinery in the West, Using 
60,000 Barrels Crude Petroleum per Day. 



The Wooing of Daniel and Elmary. 



CHEROKEE INDIANS. 
Have an Alphabet of Their Own and a Printed Lan- 
guage, Also Indian Newspaper, the Only Indian Paper 
Ever Printed of Which We Have Any Record. 



\ SYNOPSIS. XV 

\ 

\ 

Gopher AVood Tree, the Kind of Wood of Which God 
Told Noah to Build the Ark. Gen. 6 : 14, 15, 16. 



FORT GIBSON. 

The Home at Various Times of Many Noted Men — 
Henry M. Stanley, the Great African Explorer; U. S. 
Grant, Gen'l. Robert E. Lee, James G. Blaine, Washing- 
ton Irving, General Miles; Jeff Davis was an Officer in 
the Union xirmy Here; Zachary Taylor Lived Here and 
at Ft. Smith. 

Old National Cemetery Where Over 3000 of Our Brave 
Soldiers of the Civil War Lie Buried. 

The Home of Notorious Cherokee Bill. His Complete 
History. 



Love Story of Jeff Davis and Susanna Taylor, and 
Elopement From Second-story Window One Dark Night. 



An Old-fashioned Garden. 



Judge Parker's Life. A Great Judge. Sentenced 88 
Men to Death. 

George Maledon, the Prince of Hangmen. Hung 68 
Men and Shot Five to Death. 



A History of Belle Starr, the Notorious AVoman Bandit. 
Her Home, a Rendezvous of the James Boys and Other 
Desperadoes. Pearl Starr, Her Daughter, Who Lives at 
Ft. Smith Today, 1914. 



The Mysterious Bee Bluff, 300 Feet High. 



A Piece of Silver Steel Dropped From the Sky. 



Logtown Bill Smith at Van Buren, Ark. 



xvi SYNOPSIS. 

Over 10,000 Acres of Strawberries at Van Buren. 2220 
Cars of Peaches Shipped to All Parts of the Country 
From Wagoner, Okla., to Little Rock, Ark. 



Mysterious Masonic Emblems Found in Boston Moun- 
tains North of Ozark. 

The Great Catholic Monastery, Called Subiaco. A His- 
tory of the Several Kinds of Priests. 



RUSSELL VILLE, ARK. 
The Home of the Original Arkansaw Traveler. The 
Longest Pontoon Bridge in the World Here. The Home 
of the ''Hog Stuff ers." A Story by D. R. McAllister, 
Dining Car Conductor. 



Personal Meeting with Gov. Robinson, Who Was Con- 
gressman and United States Senator from Arkansas, All 
in Six Days' Time. No Other Man With Such Record in 
United States. 



Death of Senator Jeff Davis, Jan. 4, 1913. Large 
Funeral. Two Carloads of Flowers. 



Hot Springs as a Cure-Ail. 46 Springs of Hot and 
Cold Water. All Come Out of Same Mountain. 611 
Bath Tubs in the 45 Bath Houses Here. Last Year There 
Were 750,000 Baths Given. All Under Control of the 
Government. 32 U. S. Government Employes From 
Every State in U. S. 



Islam Barberry, 83 Years Old, Runs a Wagon to the 
Fish Ground. A Noted Character. 

Noted Colored Man, Wyatt Toliver, Age 110 Years. 



THE REFLECTIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR; 
Or the Troubles, Trials and Tribulations of a Pullman 
Conductor and His Passengers. 



Poetry, Conundrums, Funny Sayings, Quotations, etc. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Conductor 

The Niece 

John Brown's Monument 

John Brown's Cabin 

The Only Indian Paper Ever Printed 

Ruins of Jeff Davis ' Headquarters 

Where Henry M. Stanley Taught School 

The Barracks Building 

The Washington Irving Tree 

National Cemetery 

Officers' Quarters No. 1 

Officers' Quarters No. 2 

Gopherwood Tree 

Cherokee Bill 

The Pullman Conductor in Reflecting 

Judge I. C. Parker 

George Maledon 

Belle Starr 

Masonic Emblems 

Subiaco College and Abbey 

Longest Pontoon Bridge in the World 

Above the Clouds 

The Twin Rocks 

The Dardanelle Rock 

The Buzzard Cave 

Union Depot at Little Rock 

The State Capitol of Arkansas 

Wyatt Toliver, Age 110 Years 



\ 

FLYING SPARKS. 19 

He who joy would win, must share it; 
Happiness was born a twin. 

— Byron. 

MISS EILEEN JAMES, 

Cameron, Mo. 
I\[y dear Little Niece : 

I promised to give you a description of my trip from 
Kansas City to Hot Springs, so here goes. 

At 6 P.M. I go down to my train No. 119, Line 3296. 
We have from eight to ten cars, and a 5500-type of en- 
gine, one of the best types of passenger engines the 
Missouri Pacific has. This is the Hot Springs Express, 
one of the fastest and best trains out of Kansas City for 
the South, having dining car service with through train 
to Hot Springs, making sixteen station stops at county- 
seat towns only, in the 578-mile run. 

All aboard ! The bell rings, steam escapes, and then 
we start eastward. We go across under the viaduct down 
an incline for about eight to ten feet until we come on 
a level with the Missouri Pacific Yards. We go under 
the C. B. & Q. Bridge, also the Armour-Burlington, or the 
old Winner Bridge, then we come to the famous Red 
Bridge. This is an enclosed bridge, about 100 feet long 
and painted red. It is on a fork of the Old Santa Fe 
Trail, where the James Boys were closely pursued by 
five detectives. It was dark and the desperadoes were in 
hiding under this l)ridge when the detectives came in 
the North End. The desperadoes heard them coming 
and hustled out from underneath, coming in from the 
other end. They met the detectives and killed all five of 
them, and thus made their escape once more. These 
were supposed to be the original notorious James gang. 
The old abutments of this bridge are still to be seen. 
This famous Red Bridge was taken down and sent to 
the World's Fair at Chicago. 

After leaving this place of renown, a short run 
brings us to Diamond; then comes Dodson, eighteen 
miles from Kansas City, the winter quarters of the great 
Lemon Bros.' Circus. We find here every modern eon- 



20 FLYING SPARKS. 

venienee for the perfect housing and comfort of their 
domestic and wild animals. They own and operate their 
own gas well, have electric light plant, etc. At this 
point we cross the electric railroad which connects Dod- 
son and Kansas City. 

The next town on our run is Martin City, Mo., twenty- 
five miles from Kansas City, and the last town before 
the State Line is reached. Three miles further on and 
twenty-eight miles from Kansas City, we cross the State 
Line and run into Kenneth, Kas., which we pass, with this 
mention, and pull into Stilwell next. This was the home 
of Claude Hendricks, leading pitcher of the Pittsburg 
National League of 1912. He is the son of a banker, and 
even though raised in this small, quiet town, he was 
later to be brought before the eyes of the public as a 
man of national reputation in the baseball world. 

Here there is a large settlement of Irish, especially in 
the country, who have become very wealthy in the tilling 
of the soil. For seventy-five miles around this town is 
one of the richest farming countries in Kansas, and they 
very seldom fail to raise a crop. Land is worth from 
one hundred to two hundred dollars per acre. 

The County Fair "what used to was," 

With pickles on display, 
And quilted goods and willow ware, 

And hominy and hay. 

The massive porker in his pen. 

Now makes his owner proud. 
While auntie's "Dominicker" hen 

Attracts a goodly crowd. 

The trotting race in many heats. 

Might well excite a clam; 
And father takes a prize with beets, 

And mother with her jam. 

Prize butter, and the biggest squash. 

And other things are there. 
There is no better fun, b' bosh. 

Than going to the Fair. 

Stilwell also has its devotees to fresh air, having a 
resident who expects to live to be 100 years old by the 



FLYING SPARKS. 21 

simple expedient of living out of doors. He has a sleep- 
ing room built among the swaying boughs of a sturdy 
old oak, on his premises and every night he betakes him- 
self there to sleep, where he is rocked gently in the strong 
arms of this king of the forest. 

-Bucyrus is the next town of some note from the fact 
that this is the home of ]\Ir. Ileftlebower, who was State 
Treasurer of the old Populist party of Kansas in 1896. 
Mr. Hefflebower is a large land owner and the father of 
six buxom daughters. While still under their parental 
roof, Cupid was not asleep, neither were Hefflebower 's 
hired men. They seem to have had time enough after 
their daily toil to make love to these country lasses, as 
each one of these beautiful girls, as she grew to woman- 
hood, chose her life partner from these men of toil. Each 
time the home was deprived of a daughter, the father 
granted her a blessing by giving her a quarter section of 
land. These homes have all proven to be homes of love and 
prosperity, and the father still lives to enjoy a ripe old 
age wherein he sees many of his political theories worked 
out into practical realities and many descendants keep 
his memory green. Bucyrus also has a full supply of well 
attended churches which testify to the general pros- 
perity. 

Amid the cares of married life, 
In spite of toil and business strife, 
If you value your sweet wife. 
Tell her so! 

Prove to her you don't forget 
The bond to which the seal is set; 
She's of life's sweetest yet — 
Tell her so! 

When days are dark and deeply blue. 
She has her troubles same as you; 
Show her that your love is true — 
Tell her so! 

There was a time you thought it bliss 
To get the favor of one kiss; 
A dozen now won't come amiss — 
Tell her so! 



22 FLYING SPARKS. 

Your love for her is no mistake — 
You feel it, dreaming or awake — 
Don't conceal it! For her sake 
Tell her so! 

Don't act as if she had passed her prime, 
As though to please her were a crime; 
If e'er you loved her, now's the time — 
Tell her so! 

She'll return for each caress, 
A hundred fold of tenderness; 
Hearts like hers were made to bless — 
Tell her so! 

You are hers and hers alone; 
Well you know she's all your own; 
Don't wait to "carve it on a stone" — 
Tell her so! 

Never let her heart grow cold — 
Richer beauties will unfold; 
She is worth her weight in gold — 
Tell her so! 

From here we run to Paola, the county seat of Miami 
County, fifty-four miles from Kansas City. It is a town 
of 3500 inhabitants, and if I am not wrongly informed, it 
was the home of Charlie Pullman, brother of George 
Pullman, of Pullman car fame. This brother preached at 
this town at one time. This is also the home of the 
greatest radiator manufacturing plants in the West and 
employs hundreds of men, running the plant night and 
day, and shipping their products to all points of the coun- 
try. Here, also, is the home of the great Patterson Show 
and the fast driver of trotting horses. Paola has a num- 
ber of churches, the Methodist being the leading one. 
The first oil well ever bored in this country is one mile 
from Paola. This well has been pumping oil for twenty 
years and is still doing business. A little beyond this 
town is the highest point in the country, called ''John 
Brown's Lookout," where John Brown came from his 
home at Osawatomie with his field glasses to look over 
the situation. From this point one can readily see Osa- 
watomie, the town I am about to describe. 

Osawatomie is sixty-one miles from Kansas City and 



FLYING SPARKS 



23 




24 



FLYING SPARKS. 




JOHN BROWN MONUMENT, OSAWATOMIE, KAN. 



FLYING SPARKS. 25 

has a population of about 4,000 people. The log house 
which John Brown built and lived in is still standing 
on the J. B. Renfrow farm, one mile from Osawatomie. 
Referring to history we find that this place is where John 
Brown fought his battle of August 30th, 1852. He died 
December 2nd, 1859, before the shots were fired on Fort 
Sumpter, which opened the war he tried to hasten. In 
his memory was erected a monument which stands close 
to the National Park. This park was bought by the 
daughters of the Union Army and is maintained by the 
Government. The keeper, Jake Anderson, an old soldier, 
receives $50 a month for care-taking. The Stars and 
Stripes are hoisted every day at sunrise and lowered at 
sundown, and on the death of any man of national repu- 
tation, or old veteran, it waves at half mast. 



Again we meet after many years, 

Our muskets put away; 
In gladness now, instead of tears — 

We're one, the Blue and the Gray. 

No strife or envy now we find, 

'T is gone in every way. 
In Union built to firmly bind 

The Blue and the Gray. 

In union of heart, soul and mind 

All people now must pray, 
For this is the burden you will find, 

With the Blue and the Gray. 

Now, we soldiers, one and all, 
We're marching to that day, 

When we must answer to the call — 
The Blue and the Gray. 

And when the bugle gives the sound, 

All fear is chased away; 
Each one in Christ now is found — 

The Blue and the Gray. 

Some guardian angel we cannot see 

Will waft the soul away 
To realms above, forever free — 

The Blue and the Gray. 



26 FLYING SPARKS. 

The next town is Lane, named for Jim Lane, one of 
John Brown's men. Passing this, our engine next whis- 
tles for Greeley, supposed to have been named and found- 
ed by Ploraee Greeley, who gave the young men of his 
generation such good advice when he said, "Go West, 
young man, and grow up with the country." Across the 
railroad track is the Standard Oil pumping plant station. 
This is fixed up in fine shape, a regular little town in 
itself having shade trees, gravel walks and about twenty- 
four houses, all for the men who work there. Two big 
reservoirs are built on top of the ground, with stone wall 
linings. The edge of all walls are brick ends, sticking 
up cornerwise. All trees, brick and stone walls are kept 
whitewashed. You can readily observe that they take 
lots of pride in keeping grounds and buildings beautiful. 
This pumping station pumps 90,000 barrels of oil daily 
(24 hours) pumping to Neodesha, the Gulf, Chicago, New 
York City and other refineries. This pumping of the oil 
through pipes underground is a saving of about 75% over 
freight. 

We arrive at Garnett, Kas,, the county seat of Ander- 
son County. This is a town of about 2,000 people and is 
a very quiet town. Almost any time of the day one can 
hear the women gossiping over the fence. All real es- 
tate values in this county are made by M. L. White, 
owner of the only set of abstract books in the county. 

The next town we drive through is Mt. Ida. The fold- 
er shows that Mt. Ida has seventy-five living people, when 
they are at home. We pass on to Westphalia, where we 
find a population of 444 more souls than at Mt. Ida. 
This is the home of the Brookfield Sausage Co. Here 
they manufacture all the sausage which is used at the 
eating houses and for the dining car service on the 
Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain Railroad. This 
sausage is supposed to be made out of ground hog (2nd 
of February). This town and vicinity is composed of 
80% Germans, and was named for Westphalia, Germany. 

A STORY. 

Perliaps a little story of the early days of this now 



FLYING SPARKS. 27 

wonderful land may not eome amiss, for then, as now, 
love has been a controlling factor in men's lives. 

"In peace, love tunes the shepherd's reed, 

In war, he mounts the warrior's steed; 

In halls, in gay attire is seen, 

In hamlets, dances on the green; 

Love rules the camp, the court, the grove, 

And men below and saints above. 

For love is Heaven, and Heaven is Love." 

A merry company of young people had gathered around 
the fireside in a beautiful home in one of the large East- 
ern cities. It was one of those pleasant evenings in mid- 
winter in which spring and autumn seemed to have met, 
forming a combination as delightful as it is rare. The 
sun had been shining warmly all day, and the breezes 
were balmy, though they contained a covert sting, sug- 
gesting a "clump of sweet violets on the edge of a snow- 
drift." The fire glowed brightly within the open grate 
and all instinctively drew near, although no one could 
have told why. Certain conditions always presage certain 
actions, and the mood, too, yields to the magic spell. It al- 
ways seems around the fireside tongues are loosened, 
hearts beat joyfully, and the time most auspicious for 
the unrestrained exchange of confidences. 

Suddenly from his position by the chimney side, Harry 
Anderson exclaimed, ''Let's tell our experiences in love 
and kindred affairs." Loud laughter followed this pro- 
posal, for no one ever dreamed the courtship and mar- 
riage of Harry and Lilian Norris were other than staid 
and commonplace, for Harry was reserved even to shy- 
ness, and Lilian was not a girl given to romance and senti- 
ment. Lilian smiled and nodded her approval, and this 
is the story which was told, all on one winter's night: 

One winter evening several years before, he had at- 
tended a social at the church, a basket social, and there- 
by "hangs a tale." By rare good fortune, Harry secured 
the basket of Lilian Norris whom he had long worshiped 
from afar, and together they enjoyed the delicate viands 
she had prepared. After lunch had been eaten, they 
joined the others in games and social converse. 



28 FLYING SPARKS. 

Lilian proved such a charming conversationalist Harry 
concluded he would prolong the evening's pleasure by a 
homeward stroll in the moonlight, so summoning all his 
courage, with face wreathed in smiles, he approached the 
fair Lilian. Graciously he asked, "Miss Norris, may 1 
have the pleasure of escorting you to your home?" As 
she essayed to reply, loud voices arose just at her elbow, 
completely drowning her words. Irresolute he stood for a 
moment, then awaited another opportunity. She was 
standing alone, and quickly stepping to her side, began, 
''Miss Norris, I did not understand you. May I have the 
pleasure of accompanying you home?" 

''Lilian, Lilian, come, we want you," immediately came 
from a dozen throats in unison, and again the answer was 
lost in the tumult. 

"Well that does beat the Jews," he ejaculated, turning 
away and seeking to hide his chagrin in watching some 
youngsters scrambling for an orange. 

By this time his Scotch stubbornness was thoroughly 
aroused, and he determined not to be downed by such a 
mere caprice of Fate. Consequently, he waited until the 
company began to disperse, once more gained her side, 
saying to himself, "I'll assist her in putting on her wraps 
and then, if she stands expectantly, I'll take it she ex- 
pects me to walk home with her." 

Putting his thought into action, he possessed himself 
of her jacket, saying as he did so, "Permit me. Miss Nor- 
ris, to assist you." She smiled her thanks and the thought 
flashed into his mind to repeat the ill-starred question, so 
with a light jest he repeated it, when to his extreme dis- 
gust and dire dismay, a chattering group bore down upon 
them, and once more the answer was lost in the babble of 
voices. 

What should he do? Retreat? Never, so with a non- 
chalance he was far from feeling, he Dassed out with Miss 
Norris, inwardly vowing vengeance on the world in gen- 
eral. All too soon they came in sight of her home, and as 
they ascended the hill, he muttered to himself, "Now or 
never," and said, "Miss Norris, I really would like to 
know what you said when I asked to accompany you 



FLYING SPARKS. 29 

home." But a terrible Nemesis was on his track. A yell 
from behind filled the air with discordant sounds, and the 
coveted answer was lost in the confusion, as Lilian's little 
brother Tommy, dashed quickly around the house. ''It is 
fate." murmured Harry, then raising his hat courteously, 
bade Miss Norris good night. 

A few years have passed and the scene has changed. 
Out on the wind-swept prairies of Kansas where the long 
summer twilight falls noiselessly and waveringly, wrap- 
ping the distant sun-drenched hills in purpling shadows, 
came a young girl, in the days when the civilization was 
new, in the land, sunflower gemmed and corn walled. A 
brown-haired, blue-eyed girl was she, slight of form, lis- 
som and buoyant with the abounding health of this coun- 
try, the very air of which would set the nerves tingling 
and the eyes sparkling like a glass of old wine from the 
far-famed vintage along the Rhine. 

Fate had not been kind to the Norris family and Lilian 
and her brother Tom had come out here where a new 
country was yet in the making to try to carve out for 
themselves the way to success. It had taken her many 
months to become accustomed to this land of great dis- 
tances, where one's nearest neighbor was miles away 
behind the green fringed hills which skirted the banks 
of the winding river, now lying like a ribbon of silver 
across the golden, billowy plains, but, gradually, as the 
months slipped away, she came to love these limitless ex- 
panses, and to watch eagerly the miracle in Nature which 
transformed her beloved prairies from dull brown monot- 
ony into living, pulsing, throbbing fields of green, or cov- 
ered them with a mantle of white, more beautiful than the 
most costly ermine. 

One day she was alone and sitting on the little porch, 
vine clad and flower wreathed, for she had worked out 
here in her cabin home many of the things which always 
made memory of her childhood days live with peculiar 
sweetness, when far across the rolling prairies an object 
came to view. She watched it intently ; as it came nearer, 
she could see it was a man on horseback. Her heart beat 



30 FLYING SPARKS. 

a little more rapidly for she realized she was all alone, 
and the man was evidently a stranger. 

As the rider came closer, she arose and awaited his 
coming, standing with careless grace, a perfect type of a 
free hearted, whole souled Western girl, though such she 
w^as only by adoption. There was something strangely 
familiar as he came nearer, and when she heard his voice 
she was startled greatly. 

''And so, Miss Lilian, after so long a time, and by 
ways devious and troubled, I have at last ferreted out 
your hiding place." As Lilian held out her hand in greet- 
ing, Harry continued (for already you have recognized 
him), "Surely you never imagined your many friends in 
old Pennsylvania would so readily give you up." Lilian's 
face grew very serious for a moment, then she laughed 
gaily and bade him have a seat, so evading an answer. 

The shadows began to lengthen and Lilian showed him 
where the barn was, telling him to put up his horse, while 
she busied herself getting supper, explaining, as she 
turned a roguish face toward Harry, that men were all 
alike, and the way to keep them in a good humor was 
to have plenty to eat and ready on time. 

Harry, Tom and Lilian spent a very pleasant evening 
as they recalled the days among the dear old hills in their 
Eastern home, and watching the moonlight bathe in a 
flood of silvery light the far-reaching prairies, or as it 
filtered through the interlaced branches of the cottonwood 
trees and made quaint and curious mosaics on the velvety 
grass at their feet. 

Suddenly Harry remembered the ill-fated question, and 
the old desire to know what the answer had been swept 
over him. "Lilian, do you remember the social at the 
church and I took you home, the first time I ever went 
with you?" "Indeed I do, for it was certainly one of 
merry making." "There is one thing over which I have 
often cudgeled my brains since that eventful night, and I 
want you to help me get it straightened out. What did 
you say when I asked, if I might accompany you home." 

Peal after peal of laughter rang out on the evening air 
as to Lilian came again the memory of that incident. 



FLYING SPARKS. 31 

"Well, Harry, if it will set your mind at rest and givp 
you peace, I will tell you. My answer was 'yes,' spoken 
in a wee little voice, for to me that was a very solemn 
moment. ' ' 

At Tom's urgent invitation, cordially seconded by Lil- 
ian, Harry remained over a week, enjoying immensely 
his first visit to this wonderful land of the new West. As 
they sat together the last evening, watching the stars 
come out "one by one in the infinite meadows of Heaven," 
Harry asked another question and this time no disturbing 
element interfered and he caught the tremulous, low 
spoken word, "yes" the first time. 

"But, Harry," said Lilian as later they were telling 
Tom all about it, "I don't believe I would ever be satis- 
fied anywhere away from these rolling prairies and their 
vigorous, life-giving draughts." "You need not leave 
them, girlie, for I, too, have caught a vision, and am eager 
to make it real out here where I first found my great 
happiness." 

"All is well that ends well," and from such a union of 
hearts and hands has come this great civilization and the 
mighty kingdom of the new West with its unlimited re- 
sources and unending opportunities. 

At Leroy we take coal and water. Yates Center is our 
next station, county seat of Woodson County. It is the 
geographical center of the county, being selected as the 
site for the county seat when there were no houses within 
a mile of the present town site. It was founded by Abner 
Yates, a brother of Dick Yates, the War Governor of 
Illinois, and an uncle of the late Governor Yates of the 
same state. It is probably the greatest shipping point 
for prairie hay in the United States. From all parts of 
the Ignited States orders come in here for hay, and they 
ship out from three to four thousand carloads of hay an- 
nually, some of it going to foreign countries. This is also 
the junction point, running from here to Wichita and 
west to Denver. 

Next comes Buffalo — not Buffalo, New York, but Buf- 
falo, Kansas. It is a small town ; boasts of having 765 
people, as well as having the largest individual brick-pav- 



32 FLYING SPARKS. 

mg plant west of Chicago, also the largest oil refinery in 
the world. Mr. Fowler, one of the owners of the brick- 
paving plant, has a large collection of ancient fire arms 
and implements of war, said to be the largest collection in 
the United States. lie has several large rooms where 
walls and ceilings are covered with them. This collection 
is valued at $12,000. Some of these relics are hundreds of 
years old, being undated, but the inscription leads us to 
believe that they are of the remote past. Some are marked 
"G. R,," which means King George's reign, and some 
are marked "V. R.," which means Victoria's reign. He 
possesses one ancient Japanese revolver which, judging 
from its character, must be over 400 years old. Buffalo is 
also the home of J. K. Blair, the ex-big cattle shipper of 
Iowa. 

Benedict, no relation, however, to Benedict Arnold, is 
the next town and is a town of 700 people, when there is 
no circus at Yates Center. There are reported to be 
more rich farmers living here than any other town of 
the same size in the state. 

Gilford is the next town on the map, and we run right 
through it and never say a word. It is one of the oldest 
towns in the state where they first struck gas. 

We find Altoona to be our next stop. It is a place of 
1435 people, including both white and black. Here we 
find the largest glass fruit jar factory in the West. 

Buffville is a town, not only in name, but in color, as 
all of the buildings are buff, the town is buff, the depot 
is buff, and it is the home of a buff brick plant, the largest 
face brick plant in Kansas. 

Now we come to Neodesha which has 35C0 people. It 
is the home of one of the greatest refineries in the West, 
being a great shipping point for all by-products of this 
great oil refinery, hundreds of cars being loaded each 
day with fuel oil and other products. It is wonderful to 
know the great amount of crude oil that these plants use 
daily. You can get some idea of the wonderful capacity 
of this plant when they use over 60,000 barrels of crude 
petroleum oil per day, which is worked up in by-products 
of floor wax, paraffin, and all kinds of oil, gasoline, coal 



PLYING SPARKS. 33 

oil, etc. They are doubling the capacity of the plant. 
There is at this time on top of the ground in storage 45,- 
000,000 barrels of crude petroleum. There has been as 
high as 60,000,000 barrels. Most of the time they utilize 
about all of the oil which is produced. This oil is kept in 
great steel tanks which costs from ten to twelve thousand 
dollars each, and it is estimated that there are 1200 of 
these tanks in Oklahoma and Kansas which hold from 
35,000 to 40,000 barrels each. It was a revelation to 
me to learn how they bore and shoot these wells, and I 
will try to give you a short description of it. 

In starting, they drill a 16-inch hole 30 feet deep, put- 
ting in a steel casing as far down as bored; then a 14- 
inch hole for 400 feet, following up with a casing of this 
size ; a 12-inch hole 700 feet and a 10-inch hole for 1700 
feet, and an 8-inch hole 1000 feet with a 6%-inch hole the 
balance of the way to the cap rock. The different size 
holes necessitate several different sizes of drill bits. This 
is the average deep well. The cap rock spoken of is 
well known to all drillers. After the well is cased to the 
cap rock it keeps out the salt, or surface water, thereby 
keeping the well perfectly dry. After going through 
the cap rock, which is sometimes from ten to twenty feet 
thick, they strike what they call the oil sand, but it is in 
reality a porous, spongy-like rock. They drill through 
this to the bottom rock which is from 50 to 300 feet in 
thickness, varying in different fields. 

The next process is to shoot the well with nitro-glycer- 
ine. This requires from 50 to 300 quarts at a cost of $1.00 
per quart. The first thing they do is to fill up the 6V2- 
inch hole at the bottom with sand up to as far as they 
want to make the shot ; then they put down into the well 
the amount of nitro-glycerine that is required for this 
depth sand rock, and fill this up with 500 feet of water 
on top of the nitro-glycerine. This is called "tamping." 
Afterwards a tin tube is taken with about twenty pounds 
of sand in the bottom to weight it down so it will sink ; 
then they put about two pounds of dynamite with a dyna- 
mite cap and fuse ; then on top of this dynamite, they pour 
about eight quarts of nitro-glycerine, after which they cut 



34 FLYING SPARKS. 

a time fuse, knowing just the time it takes for this fuse to 
burn to the cap rock before it strikes the nitro-glycerine. 
As soon as this fuse is lighted, the cartridge is dropped 
from the top of the well, everybody getting as far away 
as possible. The sound is like a great rumbling thunder 
and throws out a great amount of rubbish from the top. 
It has been known to throw out all casings, and this fall- 
ing on the ground makes a great report and is very dan- 
gerous, as well as expensive, for it allows the salt and 
surface water to run in and it is a great expense to clean 
and recase the well, as most of the first casing is unfit 
to use. It is very seldom they shoot a well the second 
time with, any good results. This shooting is supposed to 
make a cavity down at the bottom, which holds a vast 
number of barrels of oil. This is only supposition, as 
nobody has ever been down in the depths to see. This, 
in short, is the way a deep oil well is bored and shot 
from start to finish. 

Near this town, the notorious Bender family kept a 
road house where people stopped over night. Many and 
strange were the rumors of mysterious disappearances, 
such as: ''A man and his boy were going that way and 
were supposed to stop there and were never heard of 
afterward." At another time, about 1869, II. H. Sey- 
mour, his wife and a boy, six years old, left Kansas City 
in a wagon, with a fine Wisconsin team and outfit, intend- 
ing to visit Mr. iSeymour's brother, Edwin Seymour. 
They came past the Bender home and stopped and a man 
came out on the porch. Mr. Seymour asked him how 
far it was to Edwin Seymour's and Bender replied it 
was about fourteen miles. This was just at sundown. 
Just at this time Kate Bender came out on the porch, 
and Mrs. Seymour nudged her husband and said, ''Hom- 
er, I don't like the looks of that woman. Don't let us 
stop here; let us go on, so they drove on about a mile 
and met a man in the road and asked him how far it 
was to Edwin Seymour's. He said, "About two miles,** 
so they continued their journey to his place. The boy, 
now an old man, says he is fully convinced they would 
have met the same fate as many other poor unfortunate 



FLYING SPARKS. 35 

travelers, had not his mother prevailed on his father to 
drive on. 

Their method was to seat their intended victim at the 
table behind which was a curtain, separating that room 
from the one adjoining, and while engaged in eating, 
a blow from behind was struck on the head of the trav- 
eler, and his body dropped through a trap door down into 
the cellar below. It is said, after the departure of the 
Bender family, the garden was dug up and countless 
human bones were found buried. The horses and wag- 
ons, and other plunder taken from the victims, were taken 
to other towns and sold. Little is known of the circum- 
stances connected with the migration of the family, but 
the neighbors banded together and went to their home. 
Nothing was ever told as to what happened, but the Bend- 
ers soon after disappeared, and nothing definite is known 
of what really became of them. 

Just pulling into Independence, Kas., which is a fine 
town of 14,000 inhabitants. This is surely a fine town; 
it is the county seat of Montgomery County, well 
churched, and has a court house, costing $75,000. Inter- 
urban line under construction to CofTeyville, Parsons, Ne- 
odesha, headed towards Topeka. Twenty-one miles paved 
streets, four banks, business college and manual train- 
ing school. 

Deering is a town of 1,050 people, but has great room 
for improvement. I do not know what kind of a deer 
this is, as on the top of the depot it is spelled "Deering," 
and on the hotel and drug store it is ''Dearing." Years 
ago there were lots of wild deer in this county, and they 
say there are a good many dears there now. One of the 
largest smelters in the United States is located there. 

Every community has a well-known character whose 
peculiar sayings and by-words, and whose doings furnish 
a never-ending source of amusement. Uncle Daniel Gib- 
son was just such a neighborhood oddity, and people 
never tired of hearing him relate his experiences, nor failed 
to enjoy a hearty laugh at his expense over his queer 
expressions and back-woods philosophy. He, it was, who, 
upon his going to bed, carefully removed the little oval 



36 FLYING SPARKS. 

corn plaster his sister-in-law had persuaded him to wear 
to relieve a sore corn. Next morning* when she asked him 
how his toe was, he said, ' ' That sure did help me fine ; I 
took it off and am going to put it on again today." When 
she explained it could only be used once and was sup- 
posed to be left on until one wished to remove it for 
good, he exclaimed, ''Dad slap it, I never knowed that 
was the way them air things worked." 

But the story of his wooing was the cap sheaf, so, ac- 
cordingly, every newcomer was coached by someone in 
the neighborhood so as to get Uncle Dan to relate it. 

"Wall, now," he would say, with his round face beam- 
ing like the full moon, and his eyes twinkling like the 
little stars of which we children used to recite, "Wall, 
now, I reckon as how I am married all right, and it hap- 
pened about this a way." 

"Me and Elmary had been setting to quite a spell, and 
I allers 'lowed some day we'd hitch up. I kep' on hang- 
in' 'round pretty occashunly, and one day her maw, she 
kind o' lay for me, and when she got a chance, sez : 'Dan, 
I reckon as how you been comin' 'round here pretty 
stiddy for a long time, and I notices Elmary isn't as 
peart as she used to was, so I wants to ax you a question. 
Do you love my gal or not? If yer don't, yer hadn't 
orter tell her so.' 

"•Wall, dad blast it, there I was cornered, all right, 
so I tells her Maw she's caught me with the goods, and 
off I goes to find Elmary. Now Elmary was allers sort 
o' shy, and some way she seemed to mistrust somethin' 
was goin' to happen, and, by Galey, if she wasn't as off- 
ish and skittish as a two-year old, and I was beginnin' 
to think I would have to foUer her clear around the place 
before I could corral her when, kind o' sudden like, she 
switched around, and I was goin' full tilt and couldn't 
pull up short, and down we came, and there we sot facin ' 
each other, looking like a pair o' sick kittens. 

"I made an ondignified attemp' to get up, and fin- 
ally made it to my feet and awkwardly helped her up. 
She didn't jest know whether to laugh or cry, but I spied 
a sickly grin come over her face, and I seed my change. 



FLYING SPARKS. 37 

so I blurted right out before I could stop to think, 'cause 
my backbone was feelin' somethin' like twine string by 
this time: 'Elmary, don't you think we'uns been driv- 
in' single long enough; what yer say to our gettin' 
hitched?' 

"She was as meek as a lamb, and said a twistin' of her 
apron, 'I'm willin', Daniel, if yer wants me.' So comin' 
meetin' day we had the parson tie us up, and, by han, 
she's stood hitched ever since." 

Love is a language, universal, spoken by all people 
in all lands, and one of the things the good book says 
is past finding out, "the way of a man with a maid." 

We are coming into the town of Coffeyville, the end 
of the division, 197 miles from Kansas City. Here we 
change engines and train crew. 

The train conductors on these runs from Kansas City 
to Hot Springs are surely a pleasant lot of men, and 
among the crew, as a whole, are a large number of Chris- 
tian men. They are very pleasant with their passengers, 
and everybody with whom they come in contact. When 
it comes to auditors, we have a fine bunch, who are very 
pleasant. They will even give you a smile without your 
asking for it. Coffeyville is a town of 17,000 inhabitants. 
They have one of the railroad Y. M. C. A. buildings here 
in which Mrs. Helen Gould Sheppard has interested 
herself so generously. It is a three-story building and is 
a credit to the town. Coffeyville has an interurban 
car line, running to Cherryvale, Parsons and other 
points. It has about seventy-five miles of paved streets 
and its manufacturing output amounts to about four 
and one-half million dollars yearly. It has some very 
fine churches. The Baptists have a very fine new build- 
ing, also the Presbyterians, and the Methodists ; the 
Christian Church will build a fine new church soon. Cof- 
feyville was the home of the notorious Dalton Gang. 
The robbing of a bank by them is well known. Two of 
the brothers were killed and two of the gang met the 
same fate, the only one left, Emmett, receiving a sent- 
ence of life imprisonment, but was paroled during Gov. 
Hoch's administration. 



38 FLYING SPARKS. 

After leaving Coffeyville, we leave the State of Kansas 
behind us, crossing the State line into Oklahoma. Le- 
hunt, the first station just north of this, has the largest 
cement factory in the world. Lenapeh, an Indian name, 
meaning strong man, is next. 

Nowata is a town of about 6,000 people, and is sure- 
ly an up-to-date live oil and gas town. The name is 
from the Indian which means ''White man welcome to 
our territory." Nowata County has 20,000 oil produc- 
ing wells, 86% of all wells brought in in this county 
being wet, or oil producing wells, and they are bring- 
ing in an average of twenty-five wet wells per week — 
1914. A new well sometimes produces $1,800 per day 
at the present price of oil, $1.08 per barrel. These great 
producing wells at the start always run down soon to from 
-500 to 800 barrels per day. There are men whose income 
from oil and gas wells is from $1800 to $2500 per day, 
over $912,000 per year. We don't hear of those who have 
probably lost their all. 

This oil and gas proposition, they say, is a very excit- 
ing life. Sometimes they are up all night, examining 
the rock and drillings that come out, as the drilling never 
stops, work day and night. It is very dangerous shooting 
wells. There are men who do nothing but this dangerous 
work. Nitro-glycerine is the quickest and most danger- 
ous explosive there is. They haul it in wagons, made 
purposely for this work. They are painted black and 
white and labeled "dangerous," so people can see them 
coming one half mile away, and they know what they are 
and generally get out of the way as far as they can, tak- 
ing another road, if possible ; they carry 380 to 500 
quarts. The explosive is kept in wooden buildings with 
no floors. They have to keep the temperature at an even 
heat as too cold or too hot is dangerous and may send it 
all up in smoke and ashes. There was a man just coming 
into his house one day with wagon, team and empty cans 
(you understand these nitro-glycerine buildings are away 
out on the prairies far from any house) when there was 
heard a terrible explosion. The largest thing found of 
two men, horses, wagon, harness and buildings was a piece 
of tin about the size of a man's hat. When this stuff goes 



FLYING SPARKS. 39 

off, it burns in the air everything burnable, and nothing 
is left but ashes. Men will work at this as they get big 
pay, and then get careless and up they go in smoke and 
ashes. These well shooters only hold their jobs, on an av- 
erage, about six to eight years, get careless and leave for 
parts unknown. 

Wetova is another town w^ith an Indian name, then Tal- 
lala, meaning "red head;" Oolagah, also named by the 
Indians. Three miles north of the last-named place is 
where the would-be famous Green brothers were annihi- 
lated. The four were killed within twenty feet of the 
Iron Mountain track, just under the railroad bridge. The 
gang was taken by surprise. Neighbors with the officers 
did the work. Conductor Bob Whaley, a son of the noted 
sheriff of Vernon, Missouri, was a member of the party 
which helped to exterminate the gang. 

Claremore is the next town on the map, 225 miles from 
Kansas City. Claremore is an Indian name, and is called 
after Chief Claremore, of the Cherokee tribe and means 
"Big Chief." It is an up-to-date town of about 4,000 peo- 
ple, and one of the best electric lighted towns on the 
route. South of this town a few miles is Claremore Moun- 
tain, or mound, wiiich is a mound, or hill, with about ten 
acres on the top. Here the Osage and Cherokee tribes 
fought the greatest Indian battle ever fought. There 
were 3,000 Osages killed while charging up the hill. This 
made the Osages the richest tribe in the world. Chief 
Claremore was killed and buried here. His grave is in 
plain view from the railroad. 

The Cherokees are the only Indians who have an origi- 
nal alphabet for their language. The Creeks and Choc- 
taws use the English characters, but the Cherokees have 
an alphabet of their own, invented by a Cherokee who 
could not speak a word of English. His name was Se- 
quoyah. He w^as the Cadmus of his race. He had none of 
the lights of science or civilization to guide him, but con- 
ceiving the idea of enabling the Indian to talk on paper, 
as he one day saw an agent of the United States doing, 
he shut himself in his cabin for one year, and endured, 
like many reformers and inventors the jibes and jeers of 



40 



FLYING SPARKS. 




FLYING SPARKS 



41 




< 



<D 



CD 



42 



FLYING SPARKS. 




GOPHERWOOD TREE, 
The only one of its kind in the world, outside of the Holy Land. 



PLYING SPARKS. .43 

the ignorant and thoughtless who pronounced him crazy, 
until he came forth with a perfect alphabet, and estab- 
lished his claim to be ranked among the first inventive 
minds of the century of wonderful inventions. This 
alphabet was invented in 1822 and consists of seventy- 
eight characters and, strange to say, is most easily learned 
by children. The Cherokee Indians printed a newspaper, 
of which a cut is herewith shown, the only one ever print- 
ed in the Indian language. 

A few miles south of this place is a tree standing in the 
middle of the road. The Government has placed its stamp 
on it. It is a gopher wood tree, the only one of its kind in 
the United States and in the world outside of the Holy 
Land. This is the tree of which God told Noah to liaild 
the Ark. It never rots. Genesis 6th Chapter, 14th, 15th 
and 16th verses. 

14th. "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms 
shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch 
it within and without with pitch. 

15th. "And this is how thou shalt make it; the 
length of the ark three hundred cubits, the 
breadth of it 50 cubits and the height of it 
30 cuibits. 

16th. "A light shalt thou make to the ark, and 
to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward, and 
the door shalt thou set in the side thereof; 
with lower, second and third stories shalt 
thou make it." 

Now we are coming into AYagoner, a town of 5,000 peo- 
ple, being 278 miles from Kansas City. From this place 
you can see the old rock Indian Trail. The great piles of 
rock stand like pyramids, 15 to 20 feet high. These were 
built in the early days by the Indians. They were started 
in the south, running from Fort Smith through the In- 
dian Territory. The last one standing is north of Greeley, 
Kas., about seventy miles from Kansas City. 

We now reach Fort Gibson, which is quite a historical 
town, the oldest town in Oklahoma and one of the oldest 
forts in the United States and having been the home at dif- 
ferent times of many famous people. The old stone fort 
still stands, also the stone house where General Grant 



44 



FLYING SPARKS. 




FLYING SPARKS 



45 




4e FLYING SPARKS. 

lived when he commanded the fort. At one time General 
Miles was stationed here ; General Custer once command- 
ed the fort, General Jackson was here at one time, and 
David Crockett also for a short time. James G. Blaine 
once lay sick here at the home of his son-in-law, Mr. 
Stores. The town was also the home of Henry M. Stanley, 
the great African explorer, who lived here and taught 
school, and it was here he made the acquaintance of Dav- 
id Livingstone. Admiral Dewey's wife also lived here for 
a short time. Also Washington Irving and Gen. Robert 
E. Lee and Jeff Davis. 

Zachary Taylor, afterwards president of the United 
States, at one time commanded this fort, and here was 
enacted one of the sweetest and prettiest little romances 
of the anti-bellum days. His daughter, Susanna, fell in 
love with the gallant young Union officer, Jefferson Davis, 
who afterwards became President of the Confederacy. 
They tell me, in those early days in Oklahoma, the young 
people fell in love the same as now, so Susanna fell — so 
did Jeff. There was strong parental objection, however, 
to the suit of the young officer for the hand of the beauti- 
ful Susanna, so much so that the lovers were compelled 
to steal out under the starlit skies to their trysting place. 
There is an old saying, "Two is company, three a crowd," 
but when Cupid is the third party, it is all right. This 
seemed to be the case in this instance and Cupid made an 
ideal chaperon. 

Everything progressed in this love affair without the 
knowledge of the parents, and one night under the friend- 
ly shelter of dark clouds, Jeff started in quest of his lady 
love, coming down the river in a boat to where his Su- 
sanna lived. Mounting a ladder to the second story win- 
dow, his true love was awaiting him with outstretched 
arms, but they met with an unforeseen difficulty in the 
shape of the fair lady's old-fashioned hoop skirt of the 
kind known as 'filters," so wide they would not go 
through the window. The old proverb, ''Where there's a 
will there's a way," was once more exemplified by the un- 
daunted Susanna calmly and promptly removing the bal- 
loon-like adornment, which she replaced upon reaching 
the ground, for what fair maiden in those halcyon days 



FLYING SPARKS. 



47 




NATIONAL CEMETERY, FORT GIBSON, OKLA. 



48 



FLYING SPARKS 




FLYING SPARKS. 49 

of the long ago would appear in public, shorn of this 
feminine necessity ? 

As they made their way across the parade ground, flit- 
ting from the shadow of one tree, or shrub, to the next, 
a guard halted them, saying, ''Halt, who goes there?" 
Jeff replied, ''Jeff Davis, an officer," and gave the coun- 
tersign. The guard said, "All's well, does the lady have 
a passport?" Jeff said, "The lady is a friend of the of- 
ficer, let us pass." They then made their way out of the 
ground to the boat. The next morning when Zachary 
came down to the 'breakfast table, he had about finished 
his meal when he said, "Mother, where is Susanna," 
whereupon the mother replied, with tear dimmed eyes, 
"Father, here is a note the maid found in her room." It 
read, "I love you, father and mother, most dearly. I 
thank you for what j^ou have done for me. If my leaving 
has caused you any sorrow, I am very sorry. I love my 
home, but I love my Jeff best. Goodbye. Susanna. ' ' Zach 
sat at the table with bowed head, but only for a few 
grieved seconds, then, crumpling the note, started for the 
fort and immediately issued the orders to catch Jeff and 
hang him, but it has been an unwritten law for years in 
Oklahoma never to hang a man until you catch him, so 
Jeff was never hanged. 

At this place, too, w^e find the old cemetery where 3,000 
soldiers lie buried. The attendants of these grounds raise 
the Stars and Stripes every morning at sunrise, and all 
day long the bright folds of the grandest flag the sun ever 
shone upon, flutter out on the soft Oklahoma breezes, 
keeping guard, as it were, over the little city of the dead, 
gathered here in defense of the flag, from all portions of 
the country; and the caretakers move softly in and out, 
keeping the long rows of headstones bright, the grass 
trimmed and the flowers beautiful, and the sacred quiet 
is now broken only by the songs of birds and the lowered 
voices of passing tourists who stop to make a pilgrimage 
to the graves of the Nation's dead. 

Fort Gibson was also the home of Cherokee Bill, the 
most notorious outlaw this country ever knew. He took 
his last ride on a railroad train sixteen years ago in the 



50 F L Y I N G S P A R K S . 

caboose of Conductor Wilbey Marshall, who runs from 
Coffeyville to Van Buren at the present time. Cherokee 
Bill was taken from Fort Gibson to Fort Smith and lodged 
in jail, and was hung there with eight other outlaws. He 
was just twenty years old at the time of his death. 

Bragg was our next town — not much to brag about, a 
very tough town ten years ago, but has now settled down 
into an inconspicuous respectability. 

The cow punchers who used to chase 

The steer across the range; 
Have scattered now to many a place. 

And toiler callin's strange, 
Tex Jones now runs a dry goods store, 

And Pecos Smith a bank; 
A sailor on some distant shore 

Is our pal, Lefty Hank. 
Missoo is selling autos now, 

And Antelope tends bar; 
And I alone still punch the cow 

While gleams the evening star; 
But one we never speak of, lest 

We shed a bitter tear, 
Three-fingered Jones his life has messed — 

He is a pulpiteer. 

— Arthur Chapman. 



Bluff is our next stop, and there is sure no bluff' about 
it ; it is one of the most picturesque towns on the run. At 
the foot of the track are great mountains of rocks hun- 
dreds of feet high. The river is on the opposite side, so 
the country is a great sight to behold. A panther was 
killed here on January, 15, 1913. You have plenty of wild 
game here, mostly turkey, deer, and small game. 

Gore is our next town. Oscar Taylor, a cousin of Mrs. 
Jefferson Davis, lives here at the present time. A nephew 
of Napoleon Bonaparte came over from France and mar- 
ried an Indian girl here. After becoming rich, he de- 
serted her. His descendants are called the Seht Brides. 
This town was originally called Campbell, but afterward 
changed to Illinois, and finally the railroad company 
named it after the blind senator whom everybody loves 
and there has been Gore down there ever since. 



FLYING SPARKS. 51 

Vian, another town on our way, was a very tough place 
in the early days of the territory. At that time Indians 
and refugees from a great many states lived here. It 
has a population of 1200. In the early days the popular 
amusement was fighting. Then powder and lead were 
expensive, so it was necessary to make everything count. 
Whenever there was a shot fired, you could guess there 
was somebody hurt. One day there were five shots fired, 
killing four men and wounding another. 

Sallisaw, meaning "Sweet Water," is having a fine 
new depot built. Running through here, we find Big 
and Little Sallisaw Creek. This is a great place for fish- 
ing. Oklahoma is surely the fisherman's Paradise, as it 
has numerous streams, creeks, they call them, but in 
reality rivers, being from 50 to 150 feet wide, all well 
stocked with fish. At low water tide under the bridge 
at Sallisaw the water is ten feet deep. ]jooking down, 
one can see schools of from fifteen to twenty fish, run- 
ning from 10 to 14 inches in length. It is a great sight 
for fishermen, and surely would have delighted the heart 
of Izaak Walton himself, could he have, stood on the 
banks of these limpid streams and have seen these schools 
of speckled beauties, disporting themselves in the crystal 
waters of these Oklahoma streams. The beauty and fra- 
grance of the floral valley on a still balmy night, with 
the ozone laden breezes, wafting sweet odors from these 
gardens of beauty, make a person feel as though he 
wanted to live a thousand years, if he could only tarry 
in a country so beautiful and well blessed. 

STORY. 

Out behind the low, old rambling farm house, was 
grandmother's garden, to my childish mind the prettiest 
spot in all my little world. 

An unpainted picket fence, gray from the storms and 
shine of passing years, separated this charmed spot from 
the great, grassy yard, surrounding the house. 

What a sweet, old garden it was ! Long row^s of old- 
fashioned clove pinks skirted the orderly beds, and made 



52 FLYING SPARKS. 

the air fragrant with their spicy odor. Bluebells and 
larkspurs nodded gaily to each other, and hollyhocks 
lifted their heads above the palings, while in- the corners 
cinnamon roses pushed beyond the confines of the garden 
and flaunted their pink sprays in our faces as if chal- 
lenging our ruthless hands to pluck them from their 
place. 

Down at the farther end were gooseberry and currant 
bushes, always a temptation for childish fingers when 
loaded with juicy fruit. In the middle were the vege- 
tables, cabbages, onions, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes and 
the endless array of greens, usually found in a truck 
patch, following each other consecutivel>. 

But the pride of grandmother's heart was her herb 
corner, and such a place it was, too ! Sweet basil, mar- 
joram, hyssop, catnip, pennyroyal, peppermint, summer 
savory, parsley, lavender and sage, with here and there 
a bunch of sweet rue. There was no ill to which flesh 
is heir, but the dear old woman believed could be cured 
by a concoction of steeped herbs, and, someway, we 
children came to share in that belief in those days of 
early childhood. How spicy the old garret was, with its 
rows on rows of dried herbs stored away against the long 
winter days, for Avinter came early among the Penn- 
sylvanian hills. 

Those days, so far away, came back to me with a flood 
of tender memories. A careless remark by a thought- 
less girl seemed to thrust aside the curtain of the years 
and I was a child again. It was in a cafe where two 
girls sat sipping tea. One of them was speaking of her 
vacation in her old home and laughingly said, ''I'll get 
a bowl of sage tea, then." Her companion merrily re- 
plied, "Oh, I can make you a cup now." The dancing 
brown eyes of the girl grew soft and serious as she an- 
swered, "No, I'd rather have it back in Indiana," then, 
adding as an after-thought, "I guess it's the petting 
more than the tea, I want." 

Ah, yes, a touch of a mother hand, the kindly anxious 
inquiry, and the little half-shy caresses, which always 
seem to go with a "cup of sage tea," we miss. It has 



FLYING SPARKS. 53 

been so long since I had thought of it that way. I have 
been homesick and heartsick so many times, but I did 
not dream it was for the old-fashioned things I was 
yearning. I know now it was, and that it was "my 
bowl of sage tea" I was missing. 

It seems to me our lives have been just like that gar- 
den. There have been fragrance and beauty, and stern 
realities, and here and there the bitter rue. Perhaps 
it is true — 

"A hundred years from now, dear heart, 

We'll never know what grew, 
A spray of fragrant roses, 

Or a bunch of bitter rue." 

but here and now it matters much. 

After all, what we miss most is the old-fashioned love, 
the folks at home who have not yet remembered we are 
grown up, but to whom we are always the boys and girb 
who romped and played around the door so many years 
ago. The sage tea with its herby odor, and the little 
love-pats and caresses; whatever the coming years may 
bring, may they never rob us of this old-fashioned gar- 
den of our hearts. 

Still we are wending our way down through Oklahoma 
to Arkansas, passing Muldrow, then through Greenwood 
Junction, Okla., this being our last town in that state. 
After passing this point, we cross the State Line into 
Arkansas and enter the precincts of Fort Smith. This 
is a town of 35,000 people, and still 164 miles from Little 
Rock, and 361 miles from Kansas City. Fort Smith is 
a live, up-to-date city in every respect. It has an inter- 
urban line to Van Buren, and a fine bridge across the 
Arkansas River half a mile long. The river sometimes 
overflows at high water and spreads out to be five miles 
wide. Fort Smith is the largest manufacturing town 
in Arkansas, and has the largest wagon manufactory in 
the Southwest, with a capacity of 15,000 wagons an- 
nually. It manufactures $4,500,0r0 worth of furniture 
annually, and has the only wheelbarrow and station plat- 
form truck manufactory in the Southwest. It also has 
seventy-five miles of paved streets. 



54 



PLYING SPARKS. 




FLYING SPARKS. 



0.) 




JUDGE I. C. PARKER. 



'Do equal and exact justice. " 

'Permit no innocent man to be punished, 

but let no guilty man escape." 
'No politics shall enter here."— I. C. PARKER. 



56 FLYING SPARKS. 

"When Fiction rises pleasing to the eye, 
Men will believe, because they love the lie; 
But truth herself, if clouded with a frown, 
Must have solemn proof to pass her down. 
And as the blessed angels turn o'er your book of years, 
Looking for the acts of your life. 
May they read the good with sweetest smiles, 
And blot the bad with tears," 

A SKETCH OF JUDGE PARKER'S LIFE. 
Judge Isaac Charles Parker was born in Belmont Coun- 
ty, Ohio, in 1838. In 1859 he removed to St. Joseph, Mo., 
and engaged in the practice of law, and in 1860 was 
chosen city attorney, filling . the office acceptably until 
1864, when he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Bu- 
chanan County. He entered into politics soon after his 
arrival at St. Joseph and was president of the first 
Stephen A. Douglass Club organized in Missouri, but, 
early in 1861, he espoused the principles of the Repub- 
lican party, continuing under its banner until his death. 
In 1864, he was chosen presidential elector, and, as such, 
assisted in casting Missouri's vote for Abraham Lincoln. 
In 1868, he was made judge of the Twelfth Judicial Cir- 
cuit of Missouri, and two years later was elected a mem- 
ber of Congress from the Sixth ^Missouri District. In 
1872, he was re-elected and during the second term served 
on the Committee on Territories, of which James A. Gar- 
field was chairman. I. C. Parker became world-renowned 
as judge for the Western District of Arkansas. In 1875, 
Judge Parker was appointed Chief Justice for Utah. It 
is more than probable he would have made a name for 
himself there, but two weeks later President Grant with- 
drew the appointment. 

''TO ALL AVHO SHALL SEE THESE PRESENTS, 

GREETING : 
''Know ye, that, reposing special confidence in the 
wisdom, uprightness and learning of Isaac C. Parker, I 
have nominated and by, and with, the advice and consent 
of the Senate, do appoint him to be Judge of the United 
States Court for the AVestern District of Arkansas. 

U. S. GRANT, 
President of the United States" 



FLYING SPARKS, 



57 




GEO. MALEDON, THE HANGMAN. 



58 FLYING SPARKS. 

It was on the 10th day of May, 1875, that Judge Park- 
er first entered upon his duties as Judge of the Fort 
Smith Court, which had but recently been removed from 
Van Buren, and from that time until June, 1896, over 21 
years, Judge Parker held court continuously without 
losing a day on account of sickness. 

GEORGE MALEDON, THE PRINCE OF HANGMEN. 

George Maledon was born June 10, 1830, at Landas, 
Bavaria. He came to America in the next year Avith his 
parents, who settled at Detroit, Mich. Here he received 
an education at the city schools in both German and Eng- 
lish branches. He was of an adventurous turn of mind, 
and on reaching the age of manhood bade adieu to his 
friends in Detroit and started out to seek his fortune in 
the great West. After a few months he found himself in 
the Choctaw Nation in the southeastern part of the In- 
dian Territory, where he took charge of a small lumber 
mill for Chief Allen and Councillor Riley. Not long after 
that, he went to Fort Smith and secured a position on the 
police force, serving for several years under Chiefs Chris- 
topher Dofl', Robinson and Wheeler. At the breaking out 
of the Civil War, he enlisted in the First Arkansas Federal 
Battery and served to the close of the hostilities. In 1865, 
soon after he was mustered out, he was appointed Deputy 
Sheriff under Thomas F. Scott, and again under John H. 
IMcClure, of Fort Smith. This position he held until 1894, 
and during the twenty-two years he is said to have per- 
formed the uncanny task of executing sixty-eight crim- 
inals and shooting five to death, gaining the unenviable 
reputation of having executed several times as many men 
as any officer in America, more than any known local 
executioner of modern times, with the exemption of the 
famous Deibler, of Paris, France, who is reported to have 
decapitated 437 persons. The scaffold where the execu- 
tions were held was built with a trap, thirty inches wide 
and twenty feet in length, giving room for twelve men 
to stand thereon side by side. 

Maledon was small of stature, five feet five inches in 
height. He was a quiet, inoffensive man, lived by his fam- 



FLYING SPARKS. 59 

ily and respected by all who knew him. From the ex- 
pression of his eyes, one would think him wholly indiffer- 
ent to human feelings, and it is doubtful if a smile crossed 
his features in many years. He has said he has hanged 
few truthful men, for nearly all he ever hanged persisted 
in declarations of innocence even with their last breath. 
Just before he left Fort Smith, an old lady who visited 
the prison and was escorted through it by him, asked him 
if he had ever had any qualms of conscience or feared 
the spirits of the departed. He replied, ''No, I have never 
hanged a man who came back to have the job done over. 
The ghosts of men hanged at Fort Smith never hang 
around the old gibbet." While he often expressed regret 
that it ever became necessary to execute a human being, 
he always felt that he only performed his duty as an of- 
ficer of the law. 

Besides the large number of men he hanged, fate willed 
that while he occupied the position of legal executioner 
at Fort Smith, he should shoot five prisoners. The first 
was Frank Butler, a negro, who had been convicted of 
murder and was being brought out for sentence at a 
night session of the Court, which Judge Parker had con- 
vened at the request of Butler's attorney. Just as the 
negro stepped from the old basement jail, he threw out 
both arms, and knocking back the guards on either side, 
sprang forward in the darkness. Mr. Maledon, whose 
aim was unerring, quickly turned to the door of the jail, 
locked it to prevent the escape of other prisoners, then 
turning his attention to the fleeing negro who was swiftly 
making for the east wall, leveled his pistol and fired. 
The stone which, for years marked the spot where the 
prisoner fell dead is just seventy-five yards from the door 
where he made his break for liberty. His mother and 
father were discovered just over the wall, waiting to re- 
ceive the body, knowing that the attempted escape had 
been nicely planned, and knowing too. the deadly aim of 
the jailer, they had preferred that their son be shot dead 
to seeing him hanged. 

Fort Smith was the home of the notorious Starr gang. 
Belle Starr, the mother, was the ring leader. She would 



CO 



FLYING SPARKS. 




BELLE STARR, THE NOTORIOUS WOMAN BANDIT. 



FLYING SPARKS. 61 

ride her horse up and down the streets (so runs the story), 
firing her revolver in all directions and terrorizing the 
inhabitants. 

BELLE STARR, THE FEMALE DESPERADO. 

Of all the noted women ever mentioned by word or pen 
none in history has ever been more brilliantly daring nor 
more effective in their chosen role than the dashing Belle 
Starr, champion and leader of robbers, herself a sure shot 
and murderess, who never forgot an injury nor forgave 
a foe; who was a terror alike to those she hated and to 
false friends, and about whom more has been said and 
written than any member of her sex in America. During 
her career she is supposed to have directed, from the 
background, many of the daring acts of the Spaniards 
and numerous other desperate gangs, and while the rec- 
ords do not point definitely to one murder she committed, 
yet it is believed that not a few men were laid low by 
bullets fired by her, though she is known to have said 
that she never killed a man unless compelled to, adding, 
"Wouldn't you kill rather than be killed?" Her mature 
life was a strange mixture of the sentimental, the terrible 
and the grotesque. Her childhood was as sweet and in- 
nocent as the new blown flower ; her end was tragic. Her 
life's history is here given, not with an idea of posing 
her as a heroine, nor with the hope that a moral may be 
drawn (though that is indeed possible), but because a 
history of the Fort Smith Criminal Court and its en- 
vironments would be strangely lacking in a principal 
feature, if Belle Starr's history was eliminated. Belle 
Starr, or, as she was known in girlhood, Myra Belle Shir- 
ley, was born in Carthage, Mo., February 3, 1846 ; she 
died on her forty-third birthday, February 3, 1889. 

On the day of Belle Shirley's (Belle Starr) capture, as 
noted above, Major Enos had sent a detachment of cav- 
alry to Carthage for the purpose of capturing her broth- 
er, Captain Shirley, who was known to be on a visit to 
his home. Belle, or Myra, as she was then called, had 
ridden into that section of the country for the purpose of 
obtaining information that might be of value to her peo- 



62 FLYING SPARKS. 

pie, and, having discovered that men had been sent to 
capture her brother, was on the point of hastening to 
warn him, when she was arrested and detained. She 
had been in the habit of riding recklessly where she 
pleased, and as scarcely any Union soldier would think 
of molesting a woman, especially when the woman 
chanced to be a beautiful and buxom girl, her plans had 
not hitherto been disarranged. It happened that Major 
Enos, who had resided in Carthage, was acquainted with 
both her and her brother, as children, and this was why 
he had ordered her arrest, he rightly surmising that she 
was about to go to her brother's assistance The girl 
was taken to the chamber of the Ritchery home and 
guarded by the Major himself, who laughed at her an- 
noyance. This served to anger her and she gave expres- 
sion to her rage in loud and deep curses. Then she would 
sit at the piano and rattle off some wild selection in full 
keeping with her fury ; the next instant she would spring 
to her feet, stamp the floor and berate the Major and 
his acts with all the ability and profanity of an ex- 
perienced trooper, while the tears of mortification rolled 
down her cheeks, her terrible passion only increased by 
the laughter and taunts of her captor. At last, believing 
his men to have had time to reach Carthage ahead of 
her. Major Enos said : 

"Well, Myra, you can go now. My men will have your 
brother under arrest before you can reach him." 

With eagerness, trembling in every limb, she sprang 
to the door, rushed down the stairway and out to a clump 
of cherry bushes, where she cut several long sprouts for 
use as riding whips. 

"I'll beat them yet," said the girl, as with tearful 
eyes she swallowed a great lump in her throat. Her horse 
stood just where her captors had left it ; vaulting into the 
saddle she sped away, plying the cherry sprouts with 
vigor. A s-hort distance from the house she deserted the 
traveled road and, leaping fences and ditches without 
ceremony, struck a bee line in the direction of Carthage. 
She was a beautiful sight as she rode away through the 
fields; her lithe figure clad in a closely fitting jacket. 



FLYING SPARKS. 63 

erect as an arrow, her hair unconfined by her broad- 
brimmed, feather-decked sombrero, falling free and flung 
to the breeze, and her right hand plying the whip at al- 
most every leap of her fiery steed. The Major seized a 
field glass and, ascending to the chamber, watched her 
course across the great stretch of level country. 

"Well, I'll be d ," he ejaculated adnifringly, ''she's 

a born guerilla. If she doesn't reach Carthage ahead of 
my troopers, I'm a fool." The Major was right; when 
his detachment of cavalry galloped leisurely into 
Carthage that evening, they were greeted by a slip of a 
girl, mounted on a freshly groomed horse. She dropped a 
courtesy and asked, "Looking for Capt. Shirley? He 
isn't here — left half an hour ago — had business up 
Spring River. 'Spect he's in Lawrence County by this 
time." 

The famous ride of his little sister availed Capt. Shir- 
ley but little after all, except that it gave him an oppor- 
tunity to give up his life in battle. He was killed a few 
days later while at the head of a band of guerillas, dur- 
ing an engagement in the brush with Federal cavalry. 

Her brother's death aroused all the animosity of which 
her untrammeled nature was capable, and to her dying 
day there was nothing but hatred for a "yankee." She 
still continued her rides as a scout as occasion was afford- 
ed until the close of the war, and during the three years 
after her brother's death was frequently with Col© 
Younger and the James Boys, whose acts of recklessness 
and daring in after years astonished the world. In 1866, 
soon after her twentieth birthday, she became the wife of 
James Reed. They had first met in her home city in their 
childhood. Reed was the son of a wealthy farmer, re- 
siding four miles from Rich Hill, Mo. As a boy he was 
of a quiet, even religious turn ; he attended church regu- 
larly, and his mother used to say of him that he was 
the most helpful and kindly disposed of any of her sev- 
eral sons. It may be surmised with reason, that he wan 
a reader of cheap novels, or it may have been that the 
thrilling events connected with the Civil War stirred the 
blood of some adventurous ancestor, flowing in his veins. 



64 FLYING SPARKS. 

At any rate, it appears that Jim Reed, too, was a close 
friend of the James Boys, that he was more once their 
companion during their raids, and it was doubtless while 
riding with them that Jim Reed, the man, came to ad- 
mire and love, in the brilliant horsewoman of twenty 
years, the sweet and attractive girl he had seen in child- 
hood. 

The marriage of this pair smacked of adventure and 
was as romantic as their natures. It came about as fol- 
lows : About the close of the war Judge Shirley had re- 
moved with his family to Texas, where the social atmos- 
phere was more to his liking, and as his home in Mis- 
souri had been a rendezvous for Quantrell and his guer- 
illas, the companions of his only son, he was visited at 
his new home in the Lone Star state, after the close of 
the Civil War by Quantrell and a score or more of his 
men. Jim Reed had served in the Confederate Army 
of his own volition, without regular enlistment, joining 
their command in 1864 in Texas, and continuing until 
the close of the war, making a good soldier. He, too, 
was with his old comrades when in 1866, the remnant of 
the guerilla band visited their old sympathizer and old 
friend. Judge Sbirley. It was a pleasant reunion and 
Belle assisted her father in providing their guests with 
every luxury. When they departed, they were accom- 
panied by Belle. Jim Reed had failed to gain the con- 
sent of Judge Shirley to the request for his daughter's 
hand, but he had the girl's consent and the pair were 
married on horseback in the presence of twenty of his 
companions. The horse upon which the girl sat was of 
high mettle and was held while the ceremony was per- 
formed by John Fisher, afterwards a noted outlaw. 

Soon after this, Reed found it necessary to leave the 
country for a season and Judge Shirley sent his daughter 
to school in Parker County, Texas, for almost six months, 
when the young husband again stole his bride and bore 
her away to his father's house in Missouri, and Belle 
Shirley once more breathed her native air. 

By some means Judge Shirley managed to treat his 
energetic son-in-law as he had been treated; he succeed- 



PLYING SPARKS. 65 

ed in stealing his daughter away from her husband with- 
in a few weeks, and sent her to live with a brother among 
the mountains of the far West. Young Reed had a sister 
who was very sedate, who had seldom been away from 
her birthplace, and was thoroughly unacquainted with 
the ways of the world. She was not one who would 
ordinarily be selected for purposes of a confidential spy 
in a love affair, but she was the only one at his command, 
and in his desperation Reed grasped at straws. He in- 
duced his unsophisticated sister to go to the home of his 
unwilling father-in-law in Texas to investigate matters 
and ascertain what had become of his bride of less than 
a year. No sooner had she returned, bearing the informa- 
tion he desired, and he at once started away on his long 
trip, full of hope and determination to have his wife or 
die. That he was successful was only what might have 
been expected of a plucky American youth, and, taking 
her ^'up behind," he hurriedly left the uncle's ranch, 
only to be followed by uncle and cousins and was finally 
brought to bay after a chase of several miles. After nu- 
merous shots had been fired without injury to himself 
or the others, he continued to where a fresh horse could 
be procured for Belle, and in due course of time the hus- 
band and wife were once more enjoying their honey- 
moon at home. 

In September, 1869, Belle became the mother of a 
beautiful baby girl. Belle idolized her and named her 
"Pearl," though the baby's grandparents and uncles al- 
ways insisted on calling her "Rosie." A year after 
Pearl's birth her father became a fugitive. He had taken 
the law into his hands and killed the slayer of his brother. 
It was the outcome of the attempt of three brothers, 
named Shannon, to murder a man named Fisher, at a 
point in the Indian Territory only a few miles from Fort 
Smith, Ark. By chance, a brother of Jim Reed, named 
Scott Reed, passed where the brothers were in ambush, 
and was mistaken by them for Fisher and killed. When 
Jim heard of it, the lines of his face contracted and tak- 
ing Belle and her baby down by a large oak tree which 
grew on the bank of a creek, coursing through his fath- 
er's farm, said to her: 

—3 



66 FLYING SPARKS. 

*'Be here with our baby twenty-one days from today at 
1 o'clock and I will meet you," then kissing her and the 
baby, he disappeared. 

JIM REED BECOMES A FUGITIVE. 

Belle counted the days, and an hour before the ap- 
pointed time was at the bank of the creek, wondering 
whether her husband was dead or alive. The time drew 
on, minutes seemed hours, and just as the hands of her 
watch announced the hour she heard a smothered laugh, 
and the next moment her husband reached over her 
shoulder and, taking the baby from her arms, tossed it 
in the air, then kissed the baby and her. He was accom- 
panied by a young man whom Belle had never seen. 
"Humph," said the s^.ranger, "Is that the child I've 
heard you raving over for the past ten days? Why, that 
is the BLAMEDEST, UGLIEST LOOKING BABY I ever 
seen." The young husband had avenged his brother's 
death, but in doing so he had committed the fatal act of 
his life, the act that eventually should be the means of 
making him bite the dust. 

Not daring to remain in Missouri, he at once left, tak- 
ing wife and child with him, and in the course of time 
landed in Los Angeles, Calif. Here he remained two 
years and here in 1871 was born to them a boy whom 
they named "Eddie," and who was eighteen months 
younger than Baby Pearl. It soon became known to the 
Government authorities that Reed was a murderer and 
a large reward placed on his head. When Pearl was 
three years old, her father decided it unsafe to continue 
longer at their home on the Pacific Coast, and leaving 
his family, he "took to the scout." Going to Texas, he 
purchased a beautiful home nine miles from Dallas, not 
far from the ranch of Judge Shirley, who, since the birth 
of the children had become somewhat reconciled to the 
marriage of his daughter, and sent word for Belle to 
come. She, in some way, discovered that she was watched 
by officers with a view to following her and thus ap- 
prehending her husband and securing the reward. Officers 
in various parts of the country were notified to look 



FLYING SPARKS. 67 

out for a "woman with a little girl and baby." Belle 
dressed Pearl as a boy and eluded the sleuths. At one 
place where it was necessary for them to stop at a hotel 
for a night, the proprietor was greatly attracted to 
Pearl, whose golden hair hung in beautiful curls and 
calling her to him, said: 

''Oh, what a pretty little curly headed boy." Pearl 
replied, ''No thir, I ain't a boy; I'm my papa's little 
turly-headed dirl," whereupon Belle, controlling her 
emotions, explained that on account of the little boy's 
pretty curly hair, her husband called him his little curly- 
headed girl. 

The innocent, happy life they had enjoyed at Rich Hill 
was never again to be experienced. Belle reached her 
new home in safety, but though it was supplied with 
everything needful, yet the lover for whom she had left 
her home was only able to be with her at times and for 
only brief periods. The greed for gold, since the reward 
was offered, made him fear every man his enemy, and 
when he came home at all, it was by stealth. A good 
portion of his time was spent in the Indian Territory, and 
it chanced that he chose as a rendezvous the home of 
Tom Starr, a noted Cherokee Indian, living some eighty 
miles west of Fort Smith, with a half breed wife. 

Tom Starr was a son of Ellis Starr, a "Southern Chero- 
kee." He had gained the reputation of being the "worst 
Indian" with which the Cherokee Government had to 
deal. He had joined the Confederate forces as a scout 
during the Civil War, after suffering the loss of near 
relatives by assassination at the hands of the Ross party, 
who had committed many depredations against them, and 
at the declaration of peace he continued on the rampage, 
becoming a foe so deadly that, in 1866, the Cherokee 
Government made a special treaty with him, guarantee- 
ing him immunity from punishment for his former crimes 
in order to induce him to settle and cease to roam the 
plains. At Tom Starr's home Reed found the seclusion 
necessary to the safety of a man on whom a price is 
set, and here for weeks at a time he would stay, sending 
word to Belle, who would leave her children with 



68 FLYING SPARKS. 

''Grandma Shirley" and go to him for a visit. Belle kept 
a stable of several fine horses at Dallas, and was ready 
at any time to mount and away to meet her bandit hus- 
band at the home of the noted Cherokee. Tom Starr 
had a son, Sam Starr, who was several years Belle's 
junior. During Belle's visits to Jim they often attended 
dances together, often riding twenty to thirty miles for 
the purpose, and it was not unusual that Sam Starr rode 
behind on Belle's horse, the three attending the homely 
fetes together. 

It could scarcely be expected that a man existing under 
the conditions surrounding Reed would lead a life in 
strict conformity to law and gospel, and it is little to 
be wondered at that during the four years after he re- 
turned from California that he was on the scout he is 
said to have committed deeds that would have gained 
for him severe punishment had he been apprehended. 

Belle, being short of money, decided to make a change 
from her usual manner of replenishing her purse, and at 
the same time perform the lady act. Decking herself 
out in raiment suitable for appearance in a civilized com- 
munity, she proceeded to one of the stirring Texas cities 
and had no difficulty in ingratiating herself with the 
''best society." She adopted her silver-toned voice, put 
on graceful airs, attended church and Sunday School, and 
was soon a recognized leader of fashion. Among her 
many admirers, she seemed to be exceedingly gracious 
to a middle aged bachelor, who was cashier of one of 
the leading banks. She kept up her saintly demeanor 
for several weeks until the banker was in love with the 
brilliant enchantress and was on the point of proposing. 
This was Belle's opportunity. She entered the bank one 
day while the cashier was alone, the others being at din- 
ner, and after a pleasant chat, he invited her behind the 
railing. Once there, she became very solicitous of his 
health, and standing close to the stool upon which he 
was sitting, told him he must take more out-of-door ex- 
ercise, as it broke her heart to see him looking so pale 
and wan. She murmured away in sweetest tones, pulling 
at his heart-strings at every breath. Suddenly she slipped 
an ugly looking 45-calibre pistol from the folds of her 



FLYING SPARKS. 69 

skirt, and pressing the glittering steel beneath his chin, 
said in a low, but determined voice, "Don't make a 
sound," at the same time lifting a flap of her basque and 
displaying a sack made for carrying the funds of this 
special bank. ''What does all this mean?" he stammered. 
''Sh, not a word; put the money right in there and be 
quick about it." The thoroughly surprised and fright- 
ened banker slipped down from his stool, and going to 
the safe, procured $30,000 in paper money and placed it 
in the sack, the mouth of which she obligingly held open. 
Then she continued, ''Now, dear, don't make any out- 
cry; your life depends upon it. Goodbye, sweetheart; 
come and see me when you come up into the Territory," 
and, backing out of the building, she proceeded quietly 
to a nearby livery stable where she had left her horse, 
vaulted into the saddle without first placing her foot in 
the stirrup, a feat which surprised the stable hands, and 
was away like the wind. And that was one time when 
that bank at closing time, found itself $30,000 short on 
the credit side of the ledger. 

Not long after, she had become comfortably located 
in her nook in the mountains. Belle received a visit from 
Jesse James, the noted outlaw and former friend of her 
first husband. Belle never "went back" on her hus- 
band's friends, and she made him comfortable for the 
night. He was passing through the country and knew 
he would be welcomed by his old friend's widow. Sam 
Starr w^as away from home when the bandit came to 
the house. The two men had never met. Starr came 
home before the other left, and not liking her husband 
to know of her acquaintance with an outlaw, she gave 
a fictitious name, and not for several months did the In- 
dian learn from her the identity of their visitor. Grad- 
ually the men she had known on the range came to learn 
of her location and of the handy retreat it offered them, 
and Belle's place came to be more or less a rendezvous 
for all kinds of rough characters. A little back, and up 
the mountains, was a cave which was fitted up into a 
habitable abode, and there has many an outlaw lain in 
security, while the officers were hot on the trail. Grad- 
ually, too, it came to be whispered among the neighbors 



70 FLYING SPARKS. 

that the newcomer at " Younger 's Bend" with the pret- 
ty daughter, was a terrible woman from Texas ; the re- 
ports came to Belle's ears, and with each report she be- 
gan to care less for her recent good intentions, which 
circumstances seemed determined to destroy. 

It was in such a place as this, amid surroundings of the 
wildest character, that Pearl was reared, growing up 
under the name of ''Pearl Starr," enjoying life as happy 
as it was isolated and innocent, until she was in her 
fifteenth year. She readily took to the wild freedom of 
the wilderness of her surroundings, and had no word of 
complaint. Like her mother, she became an expert horse- 
woman, and as she reached her teens she became more 
and more beautiful, and, strangely enough, did not take 
up with the rough ways of her mother's associates, but 
was as charming and mild mannered a miss as one could 
wish to meet. 

Belle used occasionally to remark to the scouts, who 
made her place a rendezvous, sleeping at night in the 
cave up the mountain, that they need never make any 
change in their usual demeanor when Pearl was about as 
she was not of a susceptible nature, and while she might 
not approve of all she saw or heard, yet she said nothing, 
and having her own ideas of right and wrong, she fol- 
lowed the dictates of her own conscience, not the exam- 
ple set by others. Of the boy Ed, however, she could not 
say this, and when in after years he came to be at home 
for a season, Belle would often warn her visitors to be 
careful what thev said before him as his nature was 
quite the reverse of his sister's. Pearl made visits to her 
relatives in Missouri and she succeeded altogether in 
gaining a liberal education, considering her surroundings. 

At times Belle would break away from her rough as- 
sociates and packing her trunks with garments of Fash- 
ion's latest dictates, and the dainty accessories of the 
toilet of a woman "to the manner born," would lay aside 
her scouting suit and hie away to the popular Eastern 
watering places, there to spend money lavishly and min 
gle freely with the wealth and culture of the nation. Dur- 
ing such seasons the depredations of the scouts would 



FLYING SPARKS. 71 

seem largely to cease, and the times to become tame by 
comparison, but only for a season. With her return, her 
reign would be resumed and people would remark, as if 
by intuition, "Belle Starr is back again," though there 
is not the least doubt that much of this was imaginary 
and that the woman was not really half as black as she 
was painted. 

As her life had been a tumultuous one, so was her 
death. There is something awful to contemplate in the 
thought of a woman dying "with her boots on," but 
who could expect .that other than natural results should 
follow, that a human being, be it man or woman, whose 
whole life nearly had been one of reckless daring, whose 
every act had been that of an outlaw, should, at last, 
meet with mortal violence, and should die by an assas- 
sin's hand. It was on her forty-third birthday, February 
3, 1889, that the notorious Belle Starr's earthly career 
was ended. 

This gang, of which she was such a prominent factor, 
included Cherokee Bill, the bad man spoken of as being 
a resident of Fort Gibson. He and the eight remaining 
members of the gang were finally taken. A large re- 
ward was offered for them, and a supposed friend of 
Cherokee Bill's knocked him down and tied him, and the 
rest of the gang were then overpowered. I met a six- 
teenth blood Indian, who was a personal friend of Henry 
Starr, at one time leader of the gang. Henry Starr said 
of Cherokee Bill that he was the worst man at heart he 
ever knew ; that he would rather kill a man than eat a 
meal when he was hungry. One time Bill met a friend in 
the road who said, ' ' Hello, Bill, how are you ? " " All right 
yet," Bill says, "but I am behind." The man did not 
understand what he meant, so he says, "Behind, what do 
you mean, Bill?" "Why, I am behind in my killing. I 
haven't killed a man in three days. I am going to kill 
the first man I meet." The first person he met was a Mr. 
E. Gibson, an engineer in his cab on a passenger train 
(Iron Mountain). He shot him in the cheek, but did not 
kill him. He still pulls a passenger train along the same 
route. Bill seems to have had a mania for killing people. 

These men were all condemned to be hanged, and were 



72 



FLYING SPARKS. 



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LATEST PHOTOGRAPH OF CHEROKEE BILL, 
Notorious Oklahoma and Arkansas Outlaw. 



FLYING SPARKS. 73 

in the jail at Port Smith, awaiting execution, when, in 
some way, Cherokee Bill got hold of a revolver and be- 
gan shooting and would allow no one to enter the jail. 
He was starving himself and the others in his party. 
They were very careful to examine everything that went 
into the jail but overlooked the matter of a cake, sent 
to Bill by loving hands ; in this cake was the revolver and 
shells. They were afraid to go into his cell or even in 
the jail. Henry Starr said if they would release him, he 
would take the gun aw^ay from Bill. He was the only 
man who was not afraid of Bill. They promised to com- 
mute his sentence to life imprisonment, and released him, 
and he took the gun away from Bill. All the others were 
hung. Henry Starr went to State Prison, and was after- 
wards pardoned and tried to live a right life, but his early 
instincts were too strong, for we find he is now serving a 
sentence in the Colorado Penitentiary. 

JOHNNIE POINTER'S BOAST. 

''While boldly I rove and wander, 

What's the old man's money to me; 
He'll give me all I can squander 

And still I'm his Johnnie, you see. 
It may be I'll sometime be arrested, 

And come out the best way I can; 
Should I have to go on the gallows, 

I'll die like the bravest of men," 

The sentence of Cherokee Bill for the Keating murder, 
though unusually brief, was said by some of the members 
of the Fort Smith bar to be Judge Parker's masterpiece 
in its line ; it is here given : 

The Court said: "Cherokee Bill, stand up. Crawford 
Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill, you have been convicted of 
the murder of Lawrence Keating. Under the law it be- 
comes the duty of the court to pass upon you the sen- 
tence of the law, that sentence which the law says shall 
follow a conviction of the crime of murder. Have you 
anything to say why that sentence should not now be 
passed?" 

The prisoner, ''No, sir," 



74 FLYING SPARKS. 

The Court: ''The crime you have committed is but 
another evidence, if any were needed, of your wicked, law- 
less, bloody and murderous disposition. It is another evi- 
dence of your total disregard of human life ; another evi- 
dence that you revel in the destruction of human life. The 
many murders you have committed, and their reckless and 
wanton character, show you to be a human monster from 
whom innocent people can expect no safety. The killing 
of Lawrence Keating shows three wicked and unprovoked 
murders that we knoAV you have committed. If reports 
speak the truth, two or three more innocent human be- 
ings have been robbed of their lives by you. The evi- 
dence in this case shows that you ]iiost wantonly and 
wickedly stole the life of a brave and true man; that he 
died by your murderous hand — a martyr at ihe post of 
duty, while bravely guarding you and the desperate crim- 
inals in the jail with you. You wickedly slew him in your 
mad attempt to escape that you might evade the punish- 
ment justly due for your many other murders and rob- 
beries. It was, no doubt, a concerted movement between 
you and many of the other murderers in the jail to ef- 
fect an escape. You were lawfully confined in the United 
States jail for murder and robbery. The evidence shows 
that by some wicked agency — it is difficult to tell what 
that agency was — you had weeks before obtained a re- 
volving pistol and many cartridges; that you concealed 
the same in your mattress, awaiting an opportunity to do 
the deadly act you did do. The time came, to Lawrence 
Keating the fatal hour struck, and you, without remorse, 
in cold blood, in the most devilish way, shot down poor 
Lawrence Keating, one of the guards at the prison, while 
he was faithfully discharging the duty in the station he 
filled, to peace, to order, to the security of human life, to 
the supremacy of the law, and to his country. He died 
like a brave soldier. He gave up his life rather than fail 
to perform his duty. You ordered him to throw up his 
hands, to surrender to you — a murderer and bandit. The 
brave and honest man was, no doubt, startled; he was 
shocked, but he never quailed, and because he did not 
surrender to you, that you might escape yourself, and 
lead the host of other criminals to escape judgment, you 



FLYING SPARKS. 75 

with your murderous hand, directed by a mind, saturated 
with crime, while he was gallantly and bravely upholding 
the laws of his country, shot him to death. He was a min- 
ister of peace ; you were, and are, a minister of wicked- 
ness, of disorder, of crime, of murder. Lawrence Keat- 
ing was in the discharge of a great duty when you killed 
him. Your fatal bullet destroyed the life of a gallant, 
brave man, who died like a true citizen and faithful of- 
ficer. He died as gallantly and bravely as if he had given 
up his life for the flag upon the battle field. His family 
deserves as well as his country and every lover of peace 
and order, as though he had so died. He died at the 
hand of an assassin, at the hand of a wicked man of 
crime. 

"You have taken the life of a good man, who never 
harmed you — a faithful citizen, of a kind i'dther, and a 
true husband. Your wicked act has taken from a home 
its head, from a family its support. You have made a 
weeping widow; your murderous bullet has made four 
little sorrowing and helpless orphans. But you are a 
man of crime, and you heed not the wails and shrieks of 
a sorrowing and mourning wife no more than you do 
the cries for a dead father of the poor orphans. Surely 
this is a case where all who are not criminals or sympa- 
thizers with crimes, should approve the swift and certain 
justice that has overtaken you. 

"All that you have done has been done by you in the 
interest of crime, in the furtherance of a wicked, criminal 
purpose. The jury in your case have properly convicted 
you ; they are to be commended for it, and for the prompt- 
ness with which they did it. You have had a fair trial, 
notwithstanding the howls and shrieks to the contrary. 
There is no doubt of your guilt of a most wicked, foul and 
unprovoked murder, shocking to every good man and 
woman in the land. Your case is one where justice 
should not walk with leaden feet. It should be swift. 
It should be certain. As far as this court is concerned, it 
shall be, for public justice demands it, and personal se- 
curity demands it. If Lawrence Keating had thrown up 
his hands and surrendered to you, he might have lived, 
but there is no telling how many other innocent and 
brave human lives would have been taken. He died for 



76 FLYING SPARKS. 

others, and a greater death than this no man can die. 

1 once before sentenced you to death for a horrible and 
wicked murder, committed by you while you were en- 
gaged in the crime of robbery. I then appealed to your 
conscience by reminding you of your duty to your God 
and your own soul. The appeal reached not your eon- 
science, for you answered it by committing another most 
four and dastardly murder. I therefore shall say noth- 
ing to you on that line here and now. 

"You will listen to the sentence of the law, which is, 
that you, Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill, for the 
crime of murder committed by you, by you willfully and 
with malice aforethought taking the life of Lawrence 
Keating in the United States jail in Fort Smith, and with- 
in the jurisdiction of this court, of which crime you stand 
convicted by the verdict of the jury in your case, be 
deemed, taken and adjudged guilty of murder; and that 
you be therefor for the said crime against the laws of the 
United States be hanged by the neck until you are dead, 
and that the marshall of the Western District of Arkan- 
sas, by himself or deputy, or deputies, cause execution 
to be done in the premises upon you on Tuesday, Sep- 
tember tenth, 1895, between the hours of 9 o'clock in 
the forenoon and 5 o'clock in the afternoon of same day. 
And that you now be taken to the jail from whence you 
came, to be there closely and securely kept until the 
day of execution, and from thence on the day of execu- 
tion there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead. 
May God whose laws you have broken, and before whose 
tribunal you must then appear, have mercy on your soul." 

HIS LAST DAY. 

The final chapter in the life of Crawford Goldsby, 
alias Cherokee Bill, the most noted of all the Indian Ter- 
ritory desperadoes, was closed at 2:30 o'clock on the 
afternoon of March 17, 1896. At that moment Jail Guard 
Eoff, whom Cherokee Bill tried to kill in July previous, 
threw the fatal lever and sprung the trap that launched 
Bill and the other murderers into eternity. Just before 

2 o'clock Bill said, ''Well, I am ready to go now 'most 
any time," and the jail was cleared. Outside the crowd 



FLYING SPARKS. 77 

had swollen and there was a dense jam about the side en- 
trance to the jail. A pathway was cleared, and at 2 
o'clock tlie huge door swung open and the march to the 
gallows was taken up, the condemned man walking be- 
tween Guard Eoff and George Lawson. As he gained 
the outside, walking slow^ly on account of his shackles, 
he said, "Hell, look at the people; something must be 
going to happen." Then looking up to the sky, he said, 
"This is about as good a day to die as any." Bill walked 
with a firm step and took up his position near the back 
of the gallows, waiting for the end. Turning, he saw his 
mother; he said to her, "Mother, you ought not to have 
come up here." Her answ^er was, "I can go wherever 
you go." 

One of the deputies asked him, if he wanted to say 
anything. "No," he replied, "I came here to die, not to 
make a speech." 

The marshall then read the warrant, during which 
Bill gazed about, but showed no emotion. The marshal 
asked him : 

"Have you anything to say?" 

"No," in a low tone, "except that I wish the priest 
would pray." Hardened wretch though he was he feared 
to go into the great beyond with all his heartless erimes 
hanging over him, without any assistance, ever so slight, 
to guide him over the dark river. The priest complied 
with a few brief sentences. Bill listened attentively, 
then walked over and stood upon the trap. George 
Maledon adjusted the ropes, binding his arms and legs, 
Bill meanwhile bidding his acquaintances goodbye. 

The records show that there have been more legal 
hangings in Fort Smith than in any other town in the 
world. In the early days there were so many desperate 
characters down in this country that in order to estab- 
lish a right order, the courts had to go to work and clean 
up and set an example that would stop others from 
wrong doing. Judge Parker sentenced 87 men to be 
hung while he was Judge of the United States Criminal 
Court, and Sheriff Maledon hanged 68 while he was in 
office. At this time the Federal Courts had jurisdiction 



78 FLYING SPARKS. 

over Western Arkansas and Oklahoma. There was so 
much outlawry in this country in the early days that in 
cleaning up the country, the Federal Court was in per- 
petual session. The United States marshals rode in 
posses, and, in turn the desperate characters organized 
in bands. This was the cause of Judge Parker being 
compelled to sentence so many to death. Sheriff Male- 
don died a few years ago, and they say his death was 
something dreadful to witness. The men he hanged are 
supposed to have appeared before him. 

Fort Smith has some fine churches, which show that 
after all the early-day outlawry, it has settled down to a 
fine citizenship. 

About five miles south of Fort Smith is the town of Van 
Buren, and connected with Fort Smith by interurban. 
It is a town of some note from the fact that William J. 
Bryan, our Secretary of State, has three nephews living 
at Van Buren at the present time. Also Richard C. 
Kerens, of Missouri, Ambassador to Austria under Roose- 
velt, lived at Van Buren in the early days before there 
was any railroad into this country. All merchandise was 
shipped from St. Louis by water up the Arkansas River. 
Mr. Kerens had mule trains to carry these goods over 
land through Texas and Mexico. 

It was formerly called ''Columbia," and is at the 
South Fork of the Santa Fe Trail. Here three of De 
Soto's men lie buried. It is also noted as the home of 
General Albert Pike. Evangeline, in her wanderings, 
left the river and went in search of her lover at this 
point. (See Longfellow's ''Evangeline.") At Piney 
Creek, a few miles further west there is a Lovers' Leap. 
This is a stone bluff, 150 feet high, which looks straight 
down into the river. There were two lovers once pur- 
sued by their parents up this cliff. Rather than be over- 
taken by the enraged parents, they locked in each other's 
arms and leaped to death. During the war times the 
soldiers who were condemned to die were taken up to 
this point by the guards and forced to leap to the waters 
below. One time a few soldiers went up with a bunch of 
condemned prisoners, and knowing they were nearing 
death, they rebelled, caught the soldiers and threw them 



FLYING SPARKS. 79 

into the river and escaped. Ever after, all prisoners were 
tied together and made to leap at the same time. 

About ten miles from this is Bee Bluff, which is 300 
feet straight up from the river. About 200 feet up from 
the river there seems to be a hole in the rock, which gives 
off a shining light, like silver. This had bothered the 
natives ever since the settlement of that part of the 
country, and until a few years ago they were unable 
to find a man who had nerve enough to venture there. 
A man finally took a windlass and rope and went down 
the bluff from the top 100 feet to the object of his in- 
vestigation. He found this was a great recess in the rock 
and the birds for years had been carrying in glass and 
shining articles which made this place so brilliant. This 
satisfied the curiosity of the natives. 

Twenty-five years ago close to this town a piece of sil- 
ver steel fell from the sky. For several minutes before 
it reached the ground they could hear it coming through 
the air like a dog howling, it being red hot from the fric- 
tion produced by coming through the air at such a rapid 
rate. It burned all trees and leaA^es as it came down 
through them, and buried itself in the ground four feet. 
It was afterwards taken to a museum. 

Upon Log Town Hill is located Log Hill school house, 
where the original Turkey Trot first was danced. This is 
the dance which is so popular in the Northwest. Log 
Town Bill Smith was a dancing master. No one was 
eligible to the best society in those days unless he had 
taken lessons from Log Town Bill. The boys and girls 
of the best people walked six and eight miles to these 
dances. Log Town Bill Smith still lives there. 

The soil around Van Buren is very rich. They have 
from 800 to 1000 acres in strawberries which are shipped 
from this town. They also have hundreds of acres of 
various kinds of fruit trees. In 1912, there were 2200 
cars of peaches shipped on this line from Wagoner, Okla., 
to Little Rock, Ark. There were 54 carloads of potatoes 
brought into this town for shipment in one day. A man 
who had in three acres of canteloupes in the year 1913, 
sold from this land $916.55 worth. He gave one-quarter 
crop rent, and the renter received $76 rent per acre. 



80 FLYING SPARKS. 

They grow the Winesap, the delicious Arkansas Black, 
Missouri Pippin, Mammoth Black Twig, Jonathan, In- 
gram's, Gibbons, Roman Beauty, Grimes Golden and 
Stayman's Winesap apples. All these varieties grow 
with good profit. The Oakland Fruit Company, of Van 
Buren, from an orchard of eighteen acres, sold $6000 
worth of fruit. 

The strawberry industry has become a matter of great 
importance in this state. In one day, at this point alone, 
they shipped 32 cars, 525 crates to the car — 48c per crate 
for pickings which makes $8,064 from one day's picking; 
earning for strawberry ground about $3,360,000 for one 
day. Strawberries will pay from $100 to $350 per acre. 
F. H. Smeltzer, of Van Buren, from five acres, sold the 
net amount of $14,000 for the year 1910. F. R. Robinson, 
of Dardanelle, in the year of 1909, sold $300 worth of ber- 
ries from one-half acre. In this country m 1910, there 
were 32000 acres in corn, 1000 acres in potatoes and 2800 
acres in cotton. The country is ideally one of double 
crops. The climate is mild, not subject to any prolonged 
periods of heat or cold, and the water at Van Buren is, 
by the Government analysis, as perfect and pure as there 
is in the world. Arkansas is a great state in some ways. 
They raise lots of cotton, a great fruit state, and raise 
lots of children. Arkansas builds a schoolhouse every 
working day of the year at an average cost of $3,970. 
Arkansas raised a good deal of cane in the early days. 
85% of boxnite, or aluminum, is mined in this state. 

Arkansas can boast of another thing that no other 
state in the Union can say, the Ark, the ship that Noah 
commanded, landed in this state when the water went 
down, or receded. This is what the Bible says (if you 
have ever read it), ''Noah looked out of his Ark-an-saw 
land." 

The cotton crop in Oklahoma and Arkansas is a great 
source of revenue for the farmers. It takes from 1603 
to 1700 lbs. of seed cotton to make a bale of lint cotton, 
weighing from 500 to 575 lbs. They get from 1000 to 1100 
lbs. seed from a bale. This seed is worth about $9 to $11, 
making an average bale of cotton, seed and all, worth 



FLYING SPARKS. 81 

about $60 to $70, depending on the price. A size of a bale 
of lint cotton is 27x54 inches, and then it goes to the com- 
pressor, and is compressed to 12x54 inches in dimensions. 
This is the size it must be, so when it goes aboard ship to 
be exported, it will fit just so many bales in a given space. 
If it varies an inch either way, there is 50% per bale ex- 
cess on it. This country exports about 60% of all our 
cotton and then we import cotton goods back. Arkansas 
raised in 1912, 800, 210 bales. They have hauled 1,056,000 
bales from Wagoner, Okla., to Little Rock, Ark., on this 
road. They raised in 1913, 390,500 bales, worth about 
$23,430,000. 

We must trot on down the line to Ozark — 1600 people. 
This a great summer resort. Wealthy men from the 
cities have summer homes on top of these mountains, and 
in the summertime they have to keep fires in the even- 
ing. It seems to appeal to the people of wealth from the 
cities, owing to the cool, delightful climate, and it is 
surprising to one, stopping there, to see how many weal- 
thy families find this an interesting and advantageous 
summer resort. Just south of Ozark, a few miles is Mt. 
Magazine, 3264 feet, the highest point in the United 
States between the AUeghanies and the Rocky Mountains. 

In the Boston Mountains, north of Ozark, certain min- 
ing excavations were made and dirt removed from the 
face of the rock bluff. After 25 or 30 feet of earth was 
removed, a pavement was discovered, which consisted of 
flat stone, evidently placed there by the hand of man. A 
key stone was found, together with rocks on which were 
cut the square and compass. As the dirt was gradually 
removed from the face of the rock bluff, the entire sur- 
face was found to be scratched with engravings, indicat- 
ing Masonic activities, notably an eye and long ladder, 
with many other markings and cuttings, some of which 
were not intelligible. 

There is evidence that the work had been done and 
covered up with earth prior to the memory of the oldest 
inhabitant of that community. There is no town at all 
there, and it is located on the bank of a small stream, 
called Mulberry Creek. All indications of the earth re- 



82 



FLYING SPARKS. 




PLYING SPARKS. 83 

moved point to the fact it had been filled in once upon 
a time. By whose hand it was wrought, and for what 
purpose, is a mystery deep and impenetrable, but it re- 
mains to this day a silent testimonial of some one's loyalty 
and fidelity to the principles which had been espoused. 

The Revelee Valley, north of Mt. Magazine, is reported 
to be a part of the route Ponce de Leon passed in search 
of the Fountain of Youth. In this valley were found 
relics of early inhabitants, probably Indians. Revelee 
Valley is one of the richest and most beautiful valleys in 
the state. Ponce de Leon finally w^ent to Hot Springs to 
the Valley of Vapor. 

Altus means altitude, and is the name of a town of 
1000. It is the highest point between Fort Smith and 
Little Rock. It is a great grape country. A colony was 
attracted to Arkansas more than forty years ago by rea- 
son of the fact that a bottle of wine was made in Arkan- 
sas, which took the premium at a wine show held in 
France. There are great wine cellars in this town, hold- 
ing 30,000 gallons, which are in aerated vats. The grapes 
grown here have been recognized for many years for their 
superior flavor and aroma. Carloads of grape cuttings 
are shipped from this place every year to the great Stark 
Nursery Company. 

Sparda is a mining town. Across the Arkansas River 
they are building a Catholic monastery, called "Subiaco." 
The Benedictine Brothers quarried and laid all the stone 
and did all work on the building themselves. They are 
all German Catholics. This structure is being built at a 
cost of one-half million dollars. It is made in the shape 
of a hollow square, or court, and there will be ten acres 
of flower gardens inside. The building is a stone struc- 
ture. All the stone and lumber, except finishing material, 
were quarried and sawed within one-half mile of the 
building site. When finished, it will be worth going to 
see. 

While we are in this Catholic region, it might be in- 
teresting to learn something of this people who lead such 
seeluded lives. I've learned there are two kinds of 
priests, the regular and secular. The regular priests, or 



84 



FLYING SPARKS. 




FLYING SPARKS. 85 

monks, put all their salaries, or earnings, back into the 
church, or order. The secular priests can do what they 
choose with their salaries, or earnings. All of these 
orders are separate from each other, the same as any 
other company, but each one pledges its company al- 
ways to work for this cause of education along Catholic 
lines. The Benedictine Order is 1400 years old, the oldest 
in the Catholic Church, and the priests are called monks. 

Subiaco College, or the Benedictine Order, is independ- 
ent of the Pope, Bishop or General. All its moneys and 
business are kept separate from the Church, or other or- 
ders. It is a company, or corporation, under the laws 
of the State of Arkansas. They hold their stockholders' 
meeting twice a year, and elect an abbot, who is chair- 
man of the meetings. This property belongs to all the 
company. 

The Franciscan Order is under the direct superintend- 
ency of the Pope, Bishop or General. The General is 
Pope, as it were, over all orders of the Franciscans in 
the world, and has complete control, under the direction 
of the Pope. The Franciscans do not handle any money 
themselves. They take a vow of poverty. A Brother 
pays all railroad fare at one end of the journey, and 
another Brother at the other end of the journey. A 
Brother Procurator handles all money for the Franciscan 
priests, or monks. The Franciscan Order is about 900 
years old. 

We next stop at the town of Clarksville, the county 
seat of Johnson County. The population is 2500. It is 
located in the northwestern part of the state, contain- 
ing an area of 432 acres, and is in the fruit and coal 
belt of Arkansas. Generally, the country is rolling, with 
an average altitude of 539 feet, ranging from 336 feet 
in the lowlands to 1550 feet at Ozone. A very valuable 
product of Johnson County is the coal. The principal 
crops grown in this county are fruits and berries of all 
kinds, corn, oats, potatoes, cotton, alfalfa and all kinds 
of vegetables. One thousand carloads of Elberta peaches 
were shipped in 1912; 10,000 bales of cotton and 690,000 
bushels of corn were raised in the county in 1913. Hogs 
have been raised with great success. L. J. Burger, of 



86 FLYING SPARKS. 

Knoxville, made a litter of pigs average 319 pounds net 
in eight months. The average value of land per acre 
is $12.96. Good unimproved land ranges from $2 to $5 
per acre. The fruit land is the most valuable in the 
county. The value of all farm property in Johnson 
County is $4,991,330, which is an increase of 113% in 
the last decade. This county is abundantly blessed with 
coal. It has the largest semi-anthracite mine west of the 
Mississippi River. The pay roll of this mine is over 
$60,000. Clarksville is the home of Mr. Webb Covington, 
one of the leading lawyers in the State of Arkansas, also 
state senator from this district. He is a man of great 
oratorical ability, and when he makes a speech in the 
Senate, he is always heard with marked attention. 

The next town of importance is Russellville, a town 
of about 6000 inhabitants. Russellville is 74 miles from 
Little Rock and 451 miles from Kansas City. It is quite 
a noted town. From here were shipped during 1913, 700 
cars of Elberta peaches, 100 cars of apples and 20 car- 
loads of cantaloupes. They have good coal mines here 
of both soft and semi-anthracite. It is a great school 
town. It has one of the four agricultural colleges of the 
state. All churches are represented here, except the 
Catholic, this being something unusual for a town of this 
size. The Presbyterian Church has the finest building in 
the town; the Methodist Episcopal and the Christian 
churches, both are magnificent structures and have large 
congregations. Russellville has a great water system, 
having a large dam across the Illinois Bayou River, which 
furnishes power for their water and electric light system ; 
they also furnish light for the town of Dardanelle, one of 
the oldest towns in Arkansas, and it is down here we find 
the longest pontoon bridge in the world, 2343 feet long. 

Norris is a small town at the terminal of the Darda- 
nelle and Russellville R. R., running from Russellville to 
the Pontoon Bridge, connecting with the Pontoon Hack 
Line, running to Dardanelle. This road is four miles 
long and runs slowly. Grandma Norris, 80 years old, 
was walking to Russellville one day ; the Conductor said, 
''Grandma, don't you want to ride?" She said, "No, 
thank you, not today, I am in a hurry." 



FLYING SPARKS. 



87 




88 



FLYING SPARKS. 




BUZZARD CAVE, MOUNT NEBO, ARK. 



FLYING SPARKS. 



89 







THE TWIN ROCKS, DARDANELLE, ARK. 



90 



FLYING SPARKS 




FLYING SPARKS. 91 

Dardanelle is one of the oldest towns in Arkansas, four 
miles south of Russellville, and connected with Russell- 
ville by the Russellville & Dardanelle railroad. Darda- 
nelle is quite a historic town. Mt. Magazine, the high- 
est point between the AUeghanies and the Rocky Moun- 
tains, also the Twin Rocks and the famous Dardanelle 
Rock, from which the Indian Dardanelle jumped and took 
his life in the yellow waters, ''winding southward to the 
sea," are here. The beautiful legend is given below; 
from this the town received its name. 

LEGEND OF DARDANELLE ROCK. 

Where bold Arkansas' yellow stream 

Winds southward to the sea, 
There lies the dark and bloody ground 

Where fell the Cherokee. 

In numbers weak, in fury strong, 

They held their vantage well; 
And loud and shrill the war-cry rang 

Where strode young Dardanelle. 

By birth, a king, by prowess, chief, 

He dared the invading foe; 
And many a brawny Choctaw brave 

By him was stricken low. 

But in a fatal hour he met 

And loved an Indian maid. 
Leonietta — fairest flower 

That bloomed in sun or shade. 
From eagle's wing — from hill and plain 

For her were treasures brought; 
And her soft eye had brightest gleams 

Of summer sunshine caught. 

The pride of Choctaw's haughty race 

Was she, their young gazelle. 
But dearer than his own heart's blood 

To brave, bold Dardanelle. 

Oft floating in his canoe. 

At midnight's witching hour, 
Was he 'neath Ozark's shadows drawn 

By love's mysterious power. 

No more in warlike counsel rang 

His voice to all the tribe, 
And silently with scorn he heard 

Their hints at pledge and bribe. 



92 FLYING SPARKS. 

To his Leonietta's breast, 

He gave his hopes and fears; 
For much he feared her father's wrath 

And feuds of earlier years. 
"Acquaint him with our troth," he said, 

"And when the sun has set, 
On yonder dizzy crag I'll stand, 

I pray you not forget. 
"If when the sun has reached its base, 

You touch the river's side, 
And wave your mantle, I shall come 

To claim you as my bride. 
"But if the sun-light falls and fades, 

And still I see no sign; 
Let them your woman's heart bestow; 

This dark stream shall keep mine." 
For hours he stood, his heavy heart 

Throbbed anxiously and fast; 
Then turned his eye toward those pines 

'Neath which they wandered last. 
To the Great Spirit then he spoke, 

And loud the death-cry rang; 
Then fell his crimson blanket there 

As o'er the cliff he sprang. 
O woeful maid, O trust betrayed; 

The last bright sunbeam fell; 
Then closed the dark and icy stream 

Above bold Dardanelle. 
Still does Arkansas' yellow stream 

Wind southward to the sea. 
Past long-forgotten mounds that tell 

Where lies the Cherokee. 
No more they chase the bounding deer 

Or breezy uplands press; 
They lived and died as men have done 

In many a wilderness. 
The river flows, the mountain stands, 

There is no more to tell; 
Save that this tall and frowning rock, 

Is still called Dardanelle. 

— Annie Robertson Noxon. 

On the top of Mt. Nebo is a great summer resort with 
a great many lovely homes. Part way up the mountain 
side is a table land consisting of a large number of acres 
of very fertile soil on which are raised some of the finest 
fruits and vegetables in the State of Arkansas. 



FLYING SPARKS. 93 

A few miles from Russellville is the squatter home of 
the original Arkansas Traveler, and some of his descend- 
ants still live in Russellville. A man, by the name of 
Sandy Faulkner, who stumped the state for governor, on 
his travels, met this man at his hut, sitting on a stump, 
playing his fiddle. This well-known conversation actual- 
ly took place and Faulkner's nephew, who was with him, 
set the words to music. 

Mr. D. R. McCollister, dining car conductor, is author- 
ity on the following story: Russellville was the home 
of the ''hog stuff ers." These men in the early days would 
trap the wild hogs; these hogs had been used to eating 
wild feed and were not used to domestic victuals. Now, 
my dear little girl, I will try to describe these wild hogs 
of Arkansas. The reason they are called ''razor backs," 
or "rail splitters," is because they never got very fat in 
their native state, and their backs are sharp like a rail, 
and the reason they are called wind splitters is because 
their snout is very long and small. However, in some 
respects they resemble the Northern hog, the squeal be- 
ing on the same end. They get the bristles from these 
hogs to use for wax ends in shoe shops. They take the 
grown hogs and confine them in a close place. They have 
a thick rubber hose about three feet long and three inches 
in diameter on inside, which they force down the hogs' 
throats, on the other end of the hose they have a tin 
funnel which will hold about a half bushel of ground 
feed. Now this feed is forced down these hogs for a 
couple or three times. These wild hogs, being used to 
wild mast, won't eat domestic feed until they have had 
a few feeds. After being fed, all are turned into a stout 
corral with a dark shed place for them to hide in during 
the daytime. After they learn to eat our corn, they come 
out at night and gorge themselves ; are never seen in 
the daytime. This feed being new to them, after learn- 
ing to eat it, they are very fond of it and they fatten 
very fast. This meat still retains a great percent of the 
flavor of the wild hog and in the best cafes in the East, 
on the menu card they specify this wild meat, and it is 
extra high in price. 

Next comes Atkins, London and several other small 



94 FLYING SPARKS. 

towns. They have furnished hundreds and hundreds of 
thousands of cars of rock to the Government to rip rap 
the Mississippi River. 

Well, we will have to move on down the line to Mor- 
rillton, which has about 3500 people, and is the county 
seat of Conway County. This is a beautiful town, well 
located and also a good farming country. They have 
eight good churches, a Catholic monastery and a convent. 
The Presbyterian Church is the leading Protestant church 
and has a very fine building. Fifty carloads of peaches 
were shipped from there in 1912, fifteen of cantaloupes, 
ten of potatoes and one hundred and fifty cars of alfalfa 
hay. It is a very fine strawberry country. From 75 to 
100 carloads of early strawberries were shipped from 
here in 1912. In the fall of 1913, there were shipped from 
Morrillton to Carrizo Springs, Texas, 4,000,000 straw- 
berry plants. These would plant about 1000 acres of 
berries, taking seven cars to the shipment. There was a 
cucumber raised at this place, weighing sixty pounds. I 
could not learn whether they pickled it or used it on the 
table sliced. Mr. J. C. Holcomb, during the season of 
1911, secured gross returns of $1900 from twelve acres 
of strawberries. His net proceeds were $1190. 

Next we run through a tunnel about a quarter of a 
mile long, where we have to turn our light on, then we 
emerge into 'the open daylight and come to Conway, a 
town of 30^0 people, in the center of a fine agricultural 
country. It has a broom factory which manufactures one- 
half a carload of brooms a day. It is also a school town. 

The next town of any importance is Argenta. This 
town is just across the Arkansas River from Little Rock. 
The Iron Mountain R. R. shops are located here. They 
employ about 3,500 people. They can repair 30 engines 
at one time. There are four bridges across the Arkansas 
River from Little Rock to Argenta, all in sight of each 
other. We are going to go across one of these bridges 
now into the Iron Mountain depot. This is one of the 
finest one-road depots that I know of, being five stories 
high. We go in under the sheds where there are six 
stairways, leading up into a covered opening, or great 
reception room, 70x300 feet, with a cement floor. All ex- 



FLYING SPARKS. 



95 




96 FLYING SPARKS. 

press, baggage and mail matter is handled in the base- 
ment, having 18,000 feet of receiving platform. The depot 
proper is up-to-date in every respect. 

Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas and a city of 
50,000 people, the largest by far of any town in the state 
and strictly up-to-date. They have some lovely business 
blocks, a fine Y. M. C. A., and all church denominations 
are well represented there. The people are proud of the 
Pulaski Heights. This is the new residence district, seven 
miles out. It is connected with the city by electric line 
and has a beautiful park and some lovely residences. 
There are a great many mansions with pines and other 
shade trees. In this part of the state, the snakes are 
very numerous. There are lots of rattlesnakes and a 
large variety of black snake and moccasin. I think it 
would be a good idea for them to send for St. Patrick. 

I am not much given to stories, but I want to tell you 
one true snake story which was told me by the Chief 
of Police. His son-in-law lived out a few miles from 
Little Rock. They had a daughter, twelve years old, 
and having sick folks at home, she was compelled to 
make a trip of three miles to a neighbor's through the 
cane brakes. After the child got about half the distance, 
she met a big black snake in the road which reared up 
and met her. It coiled itself around her, but still it 
came clear up until its head stuck right in front of her 
face. The little girl was so frightened she could hardly 
stand and could not move. Being so scared, and not 
knowing what else to do, she unconsciously grabbed the 
snake below the head at the small part of the body with 
both hands and gave it a death-like grasp. It gradually 
loosened its coils and when she was released, she started 
for home. On arriving at home, the mother saw a black 
snake following her. 

The Capitol building at Little Rock is a fine structure 
which is almost completed. I went up to the State Legis- 
lature one morning to see what these ''animals," who 
frame the state laws, were doing. After leaving the 
Lower House, I went up to the Senate where they have 
an "animal" of a very rare species for this part of the 



FLYING SPARKS. 



97 




98 FLYING SPARKS. 

country. It was a Bull Mooser of the progressive type. 
Everybody knows that a Bull Mooser in Arkansas would 
look like a wild rose in a garden of American Beauties. 
Still he lives and thrives in a Democratic state. 

After leaving the Senate, I went to the Governor's 
mansion to see Gov. Joe Robinson, who on Jan. 16th was 
congressman, on Jan. 18th was inaugurated governor, and 
on Jan. 20th was elected by the Legislature to the IT. S. 
Senate. This is an honor no other man ever had conferred 
on him in this country. Going into the reception room 
and passing into the head clerk's office, I said, "Good 
morning, gentlemen, is the Governor in?" He said, "He 
is. What is your business with the Governor?" I said, 
"I have no business with the Governor whatever, but 
came all the way from Kansas City to shake hands with 
a man who has been congressman, governor and United 
States senator all in fifteen minutes." The clerk smiled 
and said, "You can see him." I opened the door and went 
into his private office and said, "Good morning, Gover- 
nor, my name is M. E. Munsell; I came all the way from 
Kansas City to shake hands with you. I wanted the honor 
of shaking hands with a man who had been congressman, 
governor and United States senator all in a few days." 
I said to him, "I do not want any appointment, or job of 
any kind; I do not want to borrow any money or lend 
any, but just came in to shake hands with you." He got 
up and shook hands with me and asked me to be seated. 
He said, "I am sure I am glad to see you. It is very rest- 
ful to see a man who does not want something. ' ' He showed 
me a stack of letters and said they were from correspond- 
ents who were looking for an appointment. Only one 
thing I regret, and that is I did not ask him to let me sit 
down in the Governor's chair for a pair of minutes. 

Governor Joe Robinson was elected United States sena- 
tor to succeed the late Jeff Davis, who also had a political 
record unsurpassed by any other man, being elected gov- 
ernor three times in succession, and he also had a politi- 
cal record in the Senate, as he was elected United States 
senator for two terms. Mr. Davis died on January 4th, 
1913, just sixty days before his first term of office ex- 



FLYING SPARKS. 99 

pired. Senator Davis' funeral was one of the largest ever 
held in the State of Arkansas. All streets and roads lead- 
ing to the cemetery were blocked with people. Senator 
Davis lived in the hearts of the common people of Arkan- 
sas. This is the reason he was elected three times gover- 
nor. The city papers fought him every time he was up 
for election. He was always for the common people — he 
would pay a poor man's taxes and tell him to pay when 
he could. He was said to have been a fine man in his 
family. 

In order to let friends and relatives get into the ceme- 
tery, they had to guard all around to keep spectators 
away; it is estimated that two carloads of flowers were 
sent by loving friends to Senator Davis' funeral. A car- 
load of roses alone came from all parts of the State of 
Arkansas. We all love to see flowers as a token of re- 
spect to the dead, but how nice it would be to have some 
of these roses in words of good cheer and kind deeds 
while we are living. 

"A rose to the living, 

Is more than a wreath to the dead. 

In your garden are many roses, 
Some are white and some are red; 

I am really fond of roses, ' 

But I want them now, not when I'm dead." 

We leave the Capitol City and wind our way on to- 
wards Hot Springs, fifty-three miles on the route. This is 
one of the most picturesque rides in all of our trip. We 
wind over the foot of the mountains and up the valleys, 
rich with fruitage and luxuriant in their riot of beautiful 
blossoms, with perfume as subtle and sweet as that of 
"Araby, the blest." This is grand beyond description. 
The last twenty-one miles before we reach Hot Springs 
we find 104 curves. We are now rounding the 104th curve 
and in sight of Hot Springs. Some say this is Paradise, 
others, it is the end of the world. ''Pon-tha-da-la-on" 
says it is ''the fountain of Youth," or youth renewed. 
Well, it may mean all of this, and it may not, but one 
thing is sure, it is a great place to see sick people on 



100 FLYING SPARKS. 

crutches, in rolling chairs and in all kinds of invalid 
contrivances. You could be led to believe that all the 
sick and ailing people from all over the country were 
in Hot Springs. 

The town is built in the shape of an hour glass. There 
is one main street between two high mountains, which 
is called Bathhouse Row, and there is one side business 
street opposite. This street is at the base of two big 
mountains. The largest part of the town is on each end 
of this street. It has several streets running in all di 
rections, as well as the resident part of the place. Hot 
Springs was probably visited in 1541 by De Soto, who 
called it "Valley of Vapor." According to traditions, 
the curative properties of the springs were known to the 
Indians long before the advent of the Spaniards. There 
is a tale that the various tribes battled from time to 
time for control of the hot waters in which they believed 
the "Great Spirit" to be ever present, but that finally a 
truce was declared under which their benefits were ex- 
tended to the sick of all tribes. 

There are forty-six springs coming forth from the Hot 
Springs mountain. One peculiar thing about these 
springs is, that one side is cold water, and the other side 
is hot; the hottest spring is No. 29, and has a tempera- 
ture of 147 degrees. They have all kinds of water from 
chemical analysis, magnesia, iron, arsenic water, etc. 
There are so many other kinds of water, that I haven't 
time to describe them. The source of the heat is believed 
by some to come from great masses of igneous rock, im- 
bedded in the earth's crust by volcanic agencies. Deep 
seated waters, converted into vapors by contact with this 
heated mass, probably ascend through fissures toward 
the surface where they meet the cold springs, which are 
heated by the vapors. Others think it is heated by ra- 
dium in the mountain. Radium is known to have great 
heating power. A piece of radium half as large as a pea 
would heat thousands of barrels of water to the boiling 
point, and the radium would not lose one atom of its 
power. An ounce of radium is worth thousands of dol- 
lars, and of the 30 grams in the world now extracted 
only 2 grams are in the United States. De Soto water 



FLYING SPARKS. 101 

is claimed to cure as many diseases as any other water 
there. 

There are 611 bath tubs in the 45 bath houses in this 
place. Last year, 1913, there were 750,000 baths given, 
and 200,000 free ones. The total receipts taken in for 
baths last year were $220,277. A first-class up-to-date bath 
house, practically fire-proof, with every convenience and 
equipped with the very latest apparatus known to hydro- 
therapy, costs approximately $125,000 to build and equip. 
The total number of attendants, employed by the bath 
houses during the year, are about 225. The total amount 
paid to attendants for services in the bath houses was 
$95,742. This sum does not include tips nor presents 
received by them. This reservation, including the springs, 
mountains and all bath houses, are under the supervision 
of the Government. There are 32 employes, including 
the superintendent, required properly to maintain and 
care for the reservation interests. Their names, duties 
and compensation, together with the names of the states 
from which they are appointed, are shown in the table 
of report of 1912. At the present time there are 167 
doctors. 150 are registered under the United States Gov- 
ernment, and still, with this number of doctors, you find 
some people ailing. In fact, you would think they would 
all be sick with this array of doctors. 

The resident population of Hot Springs is 16,000. It 
is estimated that there are 25,000 visitors at Hot Springs 
at this time of the year. There are churches of every 
denomination, public and private schools, hospitals and 
sanitariums, also all kinds of amusement places. We also 
find a race track and fair grounds. This is where the 
great National ball teams of the country come to prac- 
tice. There are many hotels, the largest affording ac- 
commodations for 1000 guests. The Arlington Hotel, one 
of the best in the town, is the only one on the Govern- 
ment reservation. The elevation of the city is 600 feet, 
and that of the surrounding hills about 1200 feet above 
the level of the sea. Up ''Happy Holler" is a great sight. 
I can't possibly describe it, but you might imagine you 
were on the Midway at the World's Fair. It is a great 
amusement place. 



102 FLYING SPARKS. 

I met an old colored man, who drives a hack to the fish 
grounds, Islam Barberry, who is 83 years old. He was 
at one time an ordained Baptist preacher. In those days 
he was fishing for men; now-a-days he is fishing for a 
living. The river and fishing place are four miles from 
the town. I asked this old colored man, if it was a good 
place to fish. He said, ''It sure am a good place to fish 
at," and I said, ''Well, you say it is a good place to fish?" 
He replied, "It sure am." "Well," I said, "Can you 
catch any fish there?" He said, "Look here, Boss, I is 
no information bureau, but I do say it am a good place 
to fish, I furnish the hooks, lines and poles and a nice 
cushion seat to sit on under the shade of the trees, and 
I furnish these long, slick angle worms, the fat white 
grub worms and good calves' liver and good old red 
beef, and the latest bait that dem ar fish like. There is 
plenty of good water here and water is the home of the 
fish, and I do say this am a good place to fish at. Now 
I have furnished the place and de 'quipments and it is 
up to you to catch dem fish." 

January 19, 1914, chronicled the passing of one of Hot 
Springs most quaint and interesting characters. Wyatt 
Toliver was born a slave in the Toliver family in Wash- 
ington, D. C, in 1804, making him 110 years old at the 
time of his death. He was 50 years old when the Civil 
War broke out. He came to Hot Springs in 1876 with 
Mrs. Hay, Mrs. Lyman T. Hay's mother and father. Dr. 
Hay. When Mr. Hay came to the Arlington Hotel in 
1893, he brought the old darkey with him and tenderly 
cared for him until he died, and also attended his funeral. 
It is a well-known fact, verified by a majority of the 
residents of Hot Springs, that not all of the inhabitants 
live to such a ripe old age. 



FLYING SPARKS. 



103 




WYATT TOLIVER, DIED JAN. 19, 1914, AGED 110 YEARS. 



104 FLYING SPARKS. 

THE HOT SPRINGS CONFLAGRATION, 
SEPT. 5TH, 1913. 

The fire started about 2 P. M., from a charcoal furnace 
used for heating fiat irons in a one-story building on 
Church Street, and burnt until after 11 P. M., Sept. 5th. 
The woman was in a hurry and put some coal oil on it 
to hurry it up. It had the desired effect and she got 
through with her ironing sooner than she really ex- 
pected. There had been no rain for seven weeks pre- 
vious to this. The wind velocity was from thirty to forty 
miles per hour. It was a sight to see. The wind carried 
burnt shingles eight miles into the country. You could 
hear it roar for miles. It swept onward in great leaps 
and bounds. The blaze jumped three and a half blocks 
and set the Mooney Hotel on fire, and the people were 
terribly frightened, and everybody was in a fever of 
suspense, as the wind changed several times during the 
afternoon. The burnt district was in the form of a letter 
S. There were 133 acres burned over, seven-eighths mile 
long, three-eighths mile wide; 83 brick buildings, 12 brick 
veneer, 423 frame buildings, among which were some 
very fine structures. The electric light plant cost $236,- 
000 (new plant to cost $350,000) ; the Park Hotel, 
$500,000; the Ozark Sanitarium, $6 10,000; High 
School building, $175,000, supposed to be fire proof; 
Methodist Church, $92,000; Presbyterian Church, old 
church — the Sunday before the fire the M. E. Church 
had burnt their mortgage and notes on the church — both 
churches were well insured; the Mooney Hotel, $125,- 
000; some fine apartment buildings and several good 
dwellings. The court house was damaged about $40,000. 
There were 74 insurance companies represented in 
this great fire — estimated loss, $6,000,000; insurance, 
$3,000,000. 

It is wonderful how fast we do things these days. The 
Hot Springs Electric Light Co. wired to Albuquerque, 
N. M., and had a supplementary plant over 100 miles on 
the road before their plant was one-half burnt down. 
This supplementary plant was ready crated for emer- 
gency cases like this. The express on same was a little 



FLYING SPARKS. 105 

over $1200. The company had light burning in six days 
and cars running in twelve days. This emergency plant 
will be crated for other cases like this when they are 
through with it here. 

This fire will be a benefit to Hot Springs in the end, 
as it is rebuilding very fast with a much better class of 
buildings. The buildings which burned were valued from 
$60 ',000 down, mostly down. 

I'd like to take you up the mountain before leaving 
Hot Springs. The mountain is about one-fourth mile 
high, if you could go straight up, but two miles, the way 
you are compelled to go. When you get iip there, they 
have a tower 165 feet high, and from this you can see 
sixty miles on a clear da}^ Now I must come down from 
this lofty hei^'ht, as mv train leaves for Kansas City at 
12:45. 

My dear little Niece, I hope you will enjoy this letter, 
and when I get more time, I will write you a longer one. 
I hope you will keep it until you are old enough to read 
it for yourself, also that you may grow up to be a lovely 
Christian woman. Goodbye. 

From your uncle, 

M. E. MUNSELL, 

Kansas City, Mo. 



106 FLYING SPARKS. 



Don't holler down the well 
About the goods you have to sell. 
If you want to coin the silver dollar, 
Just climb a tree and begin to holler. 

I don't want you to climb a tree and holler, 
About the book I have to sell, 
But this to your friends I w^ant you to tell 

And help me to gather some "good old yellow." 

Please send me four bits or a silver Vz^, 
And for same they'll receive in very 

short time, 
A splendid book and much worth while, 
Which will cause them to think as well as 

to smile. 

Just tell of the sunshine along the rail. 
Where the flying sparks leave a shining trail — 
This is the book I have for sale, 
Compiled by myself and told as a tale. 

I so much need their silver i/^$, 

So won't you please tell them the coin to send. 
And then I'll have some money to spend, 

And won't have to climb a tree to make a holler. 



FLYING SPARKS. 




•THE CONDUCTOR" AND PASSENGERS. 



10.8 FLYING SPARKS. 

REFLECTIONS OF A PULLMAN CONDUCTOR. 

Tickets, please! Plot Springs? We are due there at 
3 :20 tomorrow afternoon. 

Tickets, please! Ft. Smith? Due there 7 :25 tomorrow 
morning; we take a diner on there. 

Tickets ! Little Rock ? Due there at 1 :05 tomorrow 
afternoon. 

"Can you tell me, Conductor, what time I can get a 
train from there to New York via St. Louis and Chicago ? ' ' 

"Yes, lady, the train leaves for St. Louis at 2:45; you 
arrive in St. Louis 12 o'clock midnight. You can get 
out of there to Chicago at 4:15 A. M. and you can get 
out of Chicago on the fast New York Central at 12 :40 
and arrive in New York at 9 :40 the following morning. ' ' 

"Conductor, can you please tell me what time I can 
get one of those fast passenger steamers on the Ham- 
burg-American Line to Liverpool?" 

"Yes, lady, you can leave New York from the Main 
Dock on the Imperator at 10 A. M. on the 16th." 

"Conductor, you have been so kind; now is there any 
way by which you can tell me what time I will arrive 
at Liverpool?" 

"Well, now, that depends a good deal on the weather. 
We have quit running sleepers over there as they didn't 
seem to pay the company, and for that reason I am a 
bit hazy on that proposition. That is rather a watery 
route, you know, and we Pullman conductors are 'land 
lubbers.' " 

Tickets! Russellville ? Due there at 10.47 tomorrow 
A. M. 

"Can you tell me, please,, what time the Russellville 
& Dardanelle road, which makes connections with the 
Pontoon Hack Line, arrives at Russellville ? ' ' 

"Now, lady, it has no schedule, but it has all the time 
there is and they make one round trip a day whenever 
they get a load, so we are always sure to make con- 
nections." 

Is this train generally on time ? Sure thrag. This train 



FLYING SPARKS. 109 

119 is invariably on time (except when it is late). The 
traveling public appreciates this information, especially 
the ladies. 

Just a common man, as a Pullman conductor serving 
the people, taking up tickets, collecting fares, etc. A 
conductor is supposed to know everything anybody wants 
to know, to give information of all kinds. If the train 
stops, why did it stop; it is his duty to find out how 
long it is going to stop. Does he think they will miss 
connections because of the delay, and so on ad finitum, 
until it is with a sigh of relief he hears the clanging bell 
and escaping steam and the train is under way again. 
Several of the passengers may have important engage- 
ments, you know, and they must know exactly how long 
they are going to be delayed. 

A conductor has to know all train connections all over 
the country from Maine to California; when the train 
arrives and when it leaves. He must know every station 
and every road, and all of the towns so he can inform all 
interested, as well as disinterested, passengers, when they 
can expect to pass through the delightful little village 
of ''Squodunk," and what are the main attractions of 
''Possum Hollow." If a passenger misses his connec- 
tions, he must feel so sorry and be very serious about it, 
so he will appear honestly sympathetic and in earnest. 

He must always have a smile and know every one on 
the road, as well as everything else in life, and be 
especially nice to all the women and children and old 
people, and pleasant to everybody. 

There is always somebody who has to be too late to catch 
the train. If the train was an hour late, some one would 
just barely catch it — always someone late. A man gen- 
erally catches the rear end and comes on through the 
diner into the sleeper. We had a man and wife who did 
just catch the rear end and come on through the dining 
car into the sleeper. The wife weighed 175 lbs. and 
she collapsed in the seat and we had to get a pillow and 
ice water and revive her. The man carried two grips 
and was in about as bad shape as she, but he could not 
collapse at the same time. We finally got them fixed up 



110 FLYING SPARKS. 

and they went into the diner and seemed to get along 
all right, and didn't seem to be any the worse for wear. 
Somebody has to be left, and it might as well have been 
that couple as any one else. 

Lots of funny things happen on a Pullman car. We 
had a man on one trip who had rheumatism and was 
going to the Springs on crutches. He had lower "11." 
I noticed he seemed to be worried during the day, and 
so as I passed, he said, "Conductor (it was his first time 
in a Pullman; we can always tell them), are these things 
made for two or one to sleep in?" I said, "Two, sure 
thing." That was all he said for a while. Some time 
afterward, as I came back, he was telling me how his 
rheumatism hurt him, and then he said, "Conductor, if 
you put anybody in with me, I wish you would put some 
one who does not snore or kick around so, because my 
rheumatism hurts so bad." I said, "My dear man, this 
is all yours." I wanted to reassure him, and that was 
all right and he was tickled to death and was very well 
pleased, because he had thought he would have to sleep 
with some one. 

We can always tell as soon as a passenger gets on 
whether he has ever been in a Pullman berth before. 
We all have to ride the first time in a Pullman car. I 
remember the first time I rode in a Pullman car. The 
ceiling seemed so low and the berth so narrow, I was 
afraid to turn over lest I find myself in the aisle, ana 
I was very sure the upper berth was going to come down 
on top of me. Of course, if a passenger has never ridden 
in a Pullman car, everything is strange, and some people 
don't know how to turn out a light. The other night a 
woman called to me after she had retired and said, "I 
wish you would tell me how to put out this light," so 
I showed her. You know everybody has to learn to do 
things. It is easy enough to do a thing after you know 
how, but everybody has to learn how the first time. 

I was talking to a man on the train, a very smart man, 
very intelligent, and quite an entertainer. I was tell- 
ing him about my experiences on the Pullman, about 
people who did not know how to turn out a light, etc. 



FLYING SPARKS. Ill 

He said, ''Some people have to learn to do everything. 
Now I have learned how to make a million dollars. Easi- 
est thing in the world, if you know how. I will tell you 
how." So he started in to tell me, and he told me every- 
thing and I could actually see that million dollars in 
my hand, and he had me so worked up, I was really 
riding in a 17-cylinder touring car, had a summer home 
in the North, and was taking a trip around the world. 

Everything was just running along fine, when the 
porter came down the aisle and said, ''This is Russell- 
ville; you get off at Russellville." I said "I am sorry, 
I would like to hear more about this million dollar deal." 
I had really gotten so close to that million dollars, and 
yet so far, when the porter said, "This is Russellville," 
do you know, the cold sweat was running down my back 
in little icicles, and it took me about an hour to warm 
up. Afterward I went into the diner and ordered a 25c 
steak. Just think of it! If that man had stayed on to 
the next town, which was Morrillton, instead of having 
a 25c steak I would have been eating a $2.50 porterhouse. 

It was just like it was when, as a boy, you would lie 
out on the grass some lazy, summer afternoon, watching 
the big, white thunderheads as they took shape and form, 
changing from castle to crag and back again; or as 
great dream ships they floated across the cerulean dome, 
convoyed by caravels of fleecy clouds, which trailed away 
from every side, and, suddenly, you were recalled to 
earth by the voice of your mother, bidding you to get 
the chores done. We are all day dreamers; all have 
our visions; the "end of the rainbow" is always just 
beyond, so, 

"We'll build one castle more in Spain, 
And drink it in the rose-leaf rain." 

And the Pullman car ghosts! After the lights are 
turned low, strange forms seem to glide in and out among 
the shadows, waving eerie arms, rising and falling with 
the swaying of the on-rushing train, like the wraith of 
forgotten dreams, flitting across the sense-wearied bram 



112 FLYING SPARKS. 

Sometimes these ghosts are airy, fairy, like the little folk 
"under the greenwood tree," and again they are real 
and fantastic, as, for instance, a big fat man in pajamas, 
stealthily slipping down the aisle. 

Every Pullman conductor has a fund of pleasantries 
with which he can beguile the passing hours, and cause 
''the smile which shortens many a weary mile." 

Uncle Joshua and Aunt Maria were taking their first 
trip in a Pullman car and occupied "lower 10." After 
the passengers had retired, there was a disturbance in 
the berth, occupied by these simple minded folk. Uncle 
Joshua had discovered a pain somewhere between his 
shoulder blade and solar plexus, and Aunt Maria hastened 
to his relief. Noiselessly she tip-toed down the aisle to 
the dressing room, found the hot water, made a gener- 
ous-sized mustard plaster and returned. In the mean- 
while Uncle Joshua had forgotten his pain and was fast 
asleep, but the dear old woman, intent on her errand of 
mercy clapped the plaster on his breast, as she supposed, 
adjusted things in and around their berth, and she, too 
was soon fast asleep. Suddenly something happened in 
the adjoining berth, and a roar like that of an angry 
lion filled the car. The porter rushed in and an excited 
man called out to know what he had put on his breast; 
he was burning up. The porter denied the accusation; 
the man insisted there was something there, and inves- 
tigation proved he was right. 

Quiet was restored and peace hovered over the car 
until morning. When Uncle Joshua awoke, he said, 
"Maria, why didn't you put that mustard plaster on my 
chest as you said you would?" You know the sequel. 

At another time, Mary told John she wanted a drink 
of water, but was afraid she would not know their berth 
if she once left it, so it was arranged that John should 
stick his foot out between the curtains. So far so good, 
but to Mary's consternation, every berth seemed to have 
a foot sticking out like a sign 'board. It required the 
combined efforts of the porter, conductor and Mary to dis- 
cover which was "the" right foot, but soon all was serene 



FLYING SPARKS. 113 

and Mary and John were fast ''locked in the arms of 
Morpheus." 

Again, a woman on my car, in order to determine which 
was her berth, pinned her handkerchief to the curtain and 
went after a glass of water. The car swayed violently 
and the kerchief fluttered to the floor. I chanced along 
just then, picked it up and pinned it to a curtain innocent 
of any wrong intent. Suddenly I heard an awful commo- 
tion and a woman's scream. Upon rushing up, I discov- 
ered my fair passenger had entered the wrong berth in 
consequence of my having changed the handkerchief. I 
pacified her as best I could, saying, "Madam, there is a 
man in that berth," a fact only too painfully evident to 
the horrified lady. 

One time a Isidy rushed into the car and said, ''Have 
you a lower?" "I am sorry, lady, but the lowers are all 
gone." She said, "Pshaw!" I said, "I have plenty of 
lovely uppers," wiiereupon she replied, "I never slept in 
one of your so-called 'lovely uppers' in my life ; I will set 
up first." She asked, "What is the matter with this low- 
er 7?" "Nothing the matter with that," I replied, "it 
is all right." "Why can't I have that, then?" "You 
could, but a man has that." She exclaimed, "Oh!" 

I said, "Now these uppers w^e have in this car are so 
constructed, they have the automatic, self-ventilated 
springs and mattress, which the lowers do not have ; and 
another thing about these uppers, the peculiar construc- 
tion of them permits the circulation of the fresh air which, 
when laden with the ozone breezes, circulating through 
these springs, makes a person dream of schoolboy, or girl 
days. Another thing, an upper berth makes you feel like 
you used to when, as a little girl, you were rocked in your 
mother's arms to the swinging motion of her low-crooned 
lullaby, and you slept the sleep of the just. 

"I had a schoolteacher, who, after arguing with her for 
a while, finally took an upper, and she was to get off at 
7:25 o'clock in the morning at Ft. Smith. I asked her 
what time I should have the porter call her, and how much 
time she wanted to get ready, and she said I need not call 
her, for she knew she couldn't sleep any, so I needn't call 



114 FLYING SPARKS. 

her. But I made a call for her by the porter just the 
same for 6 :15. When I got up next morning, I asked the 
porter if he had called upper 7, and he said he did, but he 
said that woman was the hardest person to wake he ever 
saw. Said, 'Cap, I could hardly wake her.' So I said 
to the lady, 'How did you rest?' She said, 'Rest! I 
never slept so in my life. I slept soundly all night. When 
I travel hereafter, I shall always take an upper." 

This lady says, "Well, if this upper is what you say it 
is, I will trv it once. What is an upper to Little Rock?" 
".^2.40," I replied. "What is a lower to Little Rock?" I 
said "$3.00." She said, "Here is $3.00; if it is what you 
say it is, it is certainly worth as much as a lower." As 
she paid me and started to go, she said, "How is it if 
these uppers are of this kind that the Pullman Co. does 
not make all uppers?" "Well," I said, "They have been 
thinking about it ; the Construction Committee had this 
under consideration, but the trouble is there are a great 
many old people, cripples and invalids who ride in the 
Pullmans, Avho could not get into an upper, so they have 
about decided, I believe, still to manufacture the cars as 
they are. I always prefer an upper myself, as well as all 
the conductors in the Pullman service. We feel that the 
conductor should sleep where it is most helpful and rest- 
ful, and the upper berth, being open at the top, affords 
easy access to the ozone-laden air which comes rushing in 
through the Garland ventilators in the top of the car. He 
not only gets the pure, fresh air of the dewy night, but 
catches the first whiff of the sweet, cool life-giving draught 
of the early morning breezes. After sleeping in this in- 
vigorating atmosphere, the conductor is not only pleasant 
and affable with his passengers during the day, but feels 
he has really had a rest. There are other reasons for the 
conductor sleeping in an upper, but this is surely evi- 
dence enough for any jury of twelve intelligent men." 

A man got on our car who held Pullman tickets for 
the drawing room car for his wife and two little folks. 
They were going to Kansas City. Calling the porter to 
him, he said, "George, T want you to take good care of 
my wife and children, and when you get to Kansas City 
my wife will give you a piece of money." As he talked, 



FLYING SPARKS. 115 

he drew from a well-filled wallet a $1.00 bill and pro- 
ceeded to tear off about one-third of it, which he gave 
to George, saying, ''Now, George, if you do what is 
right, when you get to Kansas City my wife will give 
you the other piece." Truly, "useless each without the 
other." 

And sometimes we have hysterical people aboard. One 
night we had such a woman in ''lower six," and her 
groans and grunts so filled the car it was impossible for 
any one else to sleep. Finally, a man in "lower 10" 
called me to him and said, "Cap, if you can put me in 
a berth near the lady in distress, I believe I can soon 
cure her." I replied, "I guess I can fix that 0. K.," 
and "lower 7" being agreeable, a transfer was soon 
made. 

Soon a groan emanated from "lower 6," which was 
immediately answered by one a little louder from 
"lower 7." Then another from "lower 6" called forth 
a still louder one from the man across the aisle. For a 
little while the war of groans and grunts was waged, 
those of "lower 7" always exceeding in volume those 
from "lower 6." The lady in "lower 6," finding her- 
self outgeneraled, at last subsided and the noise of bat- 
tle died away. The man in "lower 7" and the one in 
"lower 10" once more exchanged berths, and "all was 
quiet along the Potomac" for the rest of that night. 

Ting-a-ling-a-ling ! The porter answers the bell and 
comes to me. "Say, Cap, the lady in lower 6 says it is 
too cool." "See what your temperature is." ''66.'' 
"Well, turn on the heat a little more on that side." 
Ting-a-ling-a-ling ! The bell rings once more. The porter 
says, "Lower 2 says it is too hot." "Well, turn on the 
fan on that side." 

As a rule, a man's a fool; 
When it's hot he wants it cool; 
When it's cool, he wants it hot; 
Always wanting what is not. 

It is quite a proposition to keep the temperature to 
suit everybody; some want it hot and some cold. It's 



116 FLYING SPARKS. 

your duty to suit everybody; that's what you draw your 
salary for, giving service, and that is the paramount is- 
sue in the official career of a Pullman conductor. 

You should study the temperature of your car, also 
the openings and ventilators in your car, and when a 
door or window is open, note the effect it has on the ther- 
mometer. Then, a good conductor should, as far as pos- 
sible, ascertain the temperament of his passengers. You 
have to use a good deal of discretion in this, as well as a 
good deal of judgment, diplomacy and common sense. 
You should learn to be a good judge of human nature 
so you can almost tell by looking at a person how much 
heat or cold he can stand, or require. It takes a good 
m.any years of experience to develop this faculty. 

When the wind blows hard and cold from the north, 
you should always so regulate the heat in your car so 
that the passengers in the berths on the wind side have 
just the right temperature, and the ones on the warm 
south side are not too hot. 

A porter on a Pullman car is a very essential article ; 
in fact, a Pullman without a porter is a poorly equipped 
car for service. There are several different kinds of por- 
ters — a tall porter, a fat porter, a light and dark porter. 
Some porters are poor porters, and some are good por- 
ters. A good porter is to be desired by any conductor 
and the traveling public. A good porter is a porter who 
is readj^ at all times to see the wants of the passengers. 
In fact, keeps his ears and eyes open to hear the slightest 
tinkle of the bell. A good porter never sleeps on duty. 
There are some few of this kind. 

Were you ever in a wreck? Well, now, you should get 
in a wreck once to experience the most peculiar sensa- 
tions you ever felt. We were coming up one trip and 
were sailing along anywhere from 50 to 100 miles an 
hour, more or less. I was in "lower 1," sound asleep, 
dreaming of that million dollars, the same that man was 
telling me about, when, bumptey bump, crash, crash, and 
we were on the ties and our car was standing tipped at 
an angle of 25 degrees. I got up and dressed hurriedly 
and looked out of the door, and such a sight ! Cars were 



PLYING SPARKS. 117 

standing criss cross, lengthwise and every other wise 
until the whole resembled the intricate pieces of a 
Chinese puzzle, or a dissected map of the United States. 

If you want to see something awful, get into one of 
these wrecks and see how you feel. The old saying is, 
"Everybody gets off at Buffalo (New York)," but in this 
instance we had just passed Buffalo, Kansas, when we 
were ditched, and we all ''got off at Buffalo." I came 
back and said, "I guess, people, you better get up; there 
is a wreck ahead." One man said, "It sounds to me like 
there's a wreck at this end, too." They all got up and 
dressed and went out and surveyed the wreck, and then 
returned and some of them went to bed in the car until 
the relief came. It is a miracle how few people get hurt 
in a wreck like this. There was nobody seriously in- 
jured at all ; some had a few bruises and little scratches, 
etc., which made some of them nervous for a while. 
After a while the relief train came from Yates Center, 
turned us around on the Y and headed us for Kansas 
City, six hours late. 

Very seldom is anyone hurt who rides in a Pullman, 
for a Pullman car is the safest place in a train to ride. 
It is a cheap accident policy. Without knowing posi- 
tively, I would say that less than 2% of all the people 
hurt in wrecks are hurt in the Pullman car. Whenever 
you travel, he sure to ride in a Pullman car for safety 
and ease. 

Of course we have lots of people on the car who are 
very inquisitive and who Avant to know many things, and 
we are very careful to try and please all of them, and tell 
them we will find out. Maybe we can, and maybe we 
can't. 

A Pullman car is a fine place to study human nature 
and become familiar with the various types of character 
which make up the warp and woof of the fabric of our 
social and commercial life. Man is cosmopolitan as well 
as metropolitan, migratory as well as stationary, and as 
he journeys to and fro, gives and takes alike, depicting 
life in all its phases and under all conditions. 

A conductor always wonders who his passengers are. 



118 FLYING SPARKS. 

where they are going, and what is their business, and 
after a few months experience and close observation, can 
pretty generally size a person up correctly, and render a 
fair opinion as to the character, habits, etc., of those on 
his car. What stories the faces tell, and mysteries the 
hearts conceal! There are smiling lips, the while the 
tears lie close to falling from eyes by sorrow dimmed. 
There is careless laughter and light badinage from 
hearts, bowing down under burdens they are heavily 
bearing. Truly, every day in a Pullman is a human 
kaleidoscope, with its quickly changing scenes and color- 
ings. One turn, and we catch glimpses of gay and 
happy hearted folk, on pleasure bent. Another, and 
there slowly resolves, out of the riot of color, the figure 
of the cross, a weeping one, bearing his "pitcher of 
tears." We never can tell what the panorama may be, 
as Father Time turns the glass. 

After all, it is very pleasant on and off a Pullman. 
You meet lots of nice people. Everybody seems to be 
nice who rides in a Pullman, So there is always a sun- 
ny side to life and our days are full of varied experi- 
ences. These facts may be a little overdrawn, but in 
the main are correct. 




FLYING SPARKS. 119 



Good friend, a deed of kindness you can do, 

For a poor old Pullman conductor. 
If the book I've written, while flying down the rail. 

Should meet your fancy. 
Just tell your friends what I have for sale 
About flying sparks down the iron trail. 
All I want is for you to tell your friend. 
If 4 bits, or silver %$ he'll send, 

For it, by return parcel post will come 

A book of history, funny sayings, then some. 
All splendid reading I can recommend. 



120 FLYING SPARKS. 

CONUNDRUMS. 

¥ ¥ ¥ 

Why is Ancient History called the Dark Ages? Be- 
cause there are so many (k) nights. 



Pat was almost run over by an automobile. He just 
got out of the road when a pop-pop machine ran over 
him. He got up and said, ''By gory, I did not know 
the thing had a colt." 



Do you know why they never hang a man with a 
wooden leg in Arkansas? Because they hang him with 
a rope. 



We have a cherry tree in our front yard which always 
is full of cherries. Do you know what we do with them? 
We eat all we can, and can all we can't. 



Why do girls kiss each other and men do not? Be- 
cause girls have nothing better to kiss and men have. 



If a man got upon a donkey, where would he get 
down? From a swan's breast. 



AVhy are oysters the best food for dyspeptics? Be- 
cause they die-just (digest) before they eat them. 



AVhen does lettuce blush? When it sees the salad 
dressing. 



FLYING SPARKS. 121 

When does the window pane blush? When it sees the 
weather strip. 



What chasm often separates friends? Sarcasm. 



Do you know how often they hang a man in Arkan- 
sas? One once. 



When do the leaves turn red in the face? When they 
see the bare limbs. 



What is the difference between a hungry man and a 
glutton? One longs to eat and the other eats too long. 



What Queen Mary had before, Poor William had be- 
hind — poor thing! What Queen Ann never had at all — 
poor thing ! The letter M. 



AVhat is the difference between a blind man and a 
sailor in prison. One cannot see to go and the other 
cannot go to sea. 



Why does a baby boy always receive a hearty welcome 
in the family? Because it never comes a-miss. 



Which is the largest room in the world? The room 
for improvement. 



How many weeks belong to this year? Forty-six; the 
other six are only lent (Lent). 



122 PLYING SPARKS. 

"When is an altered dress like a secret? When it is 
let out. 



How were Adam and Eve kept from gambling? Their 
pair o'diee (Paradise) was taken away from them. 



What is that which flies high, flies low, has no feet, 
and yet wears shoes? Dust. 



Why should a man, named Ben, marry a girl, called 
Anne? Because he would be Benny-fitted, and she An- 
ne-mated. 



What is that which everyone wishes for and yet tries 
to get rid of? A good appetite. 



What kind of sweetmeats did they have in the ark? 
Preserved pears (pairs). 



What is smaller than a gnat's mouth? What it puts 
in it. 



Know what is smaller than this? A baby gnat's 
mouth. 



The Englishmen come over to our country to win our 
American girls for their wives. I think the English 
girls are so nice, fine looking, plump forms, rosy cheeks 
and sweet to look upon, and the American girls are sal- 
low, slim and skinny. Yes, but the Englishmen like their 
greenbacks. 



FLYING SPARKS. 123 

How do bees dispose of their honey? They cell it. 



Is your father at home? He is down with tljp hogs. 
You will know him. He has a hat on. 



Truthfulness and success are boon companions, and he 
who would succeed must make honor his bosom friend. 



Why is an old man easj^ to rob? Because his gate 
(gait) is broken, and his locks are few. 



AYhy are the manufacturers of steel pens a menace 
to good goveamment? Because they make you steel 
pens and say you do right. 



How did the wiiale that swallowed Jonah obey the 
divine laws? Jonah was a stranger and he took him in. 



When were salt provisions first introduced into the 
Navy? When Noah took Ham into the ark. 



Why do railway men always speak of a locomotive as 
''she"? Because it suggests tender thoughts and draws 
men after it. 



Why is a thief called a jail bird? Because he has been 
a robin (robbin'). 



When is a clock on the stairs dangerous? When it 
runs down and strikes two or three. 



124 FLYING SPARKS. 

Why is a spider a good correspondent? Because he 
drops a line by every post. 



Why should a horse never get hungry on his journey? 
Because he always has a bit in his mouth. 



What word, if you take away the first letter, will 
make you sick? Music. 



Why is a baby like wheat? It is first cradled and 
then thrashed and finally becomes the flower of the 
family. 



What is it that Adam never saw and never possessed, 
and yet gave to each of his children? Parents. 



Why is a watch like a river? Because it does not 
run long without winding. 



The definition of money : A universal passport to 
every place except Heaven. A universal provider for 
everything except happiness and health. It produces 
the one and promotes the other. 



Why is a young lady like a promissory note? She 
ought to be settled when she arrives at maturity. 



What is the oldest oiece of furniture in the world? 
The multiplication table. 



FLYING SPARKS. 125 

Which travels at greatest speed, heat or cold? Heat, 
because you can catch a cold. 



Why are real friends like ghosts? They are often 



heard of, but seldom seen. 



Why is a violin, or fiddle, like a bank? A violin never 
gives its note back, a bank does (sometimes). 



Why is my cup of tea stronger than yours? Because 
it is all my tea (almighty). 



What vegetable, or fruit products, are most important 
in history? Dates. 



What is always at the head of fashion, yet always out 
of date? The letter F. 



Why is the figure 9 like a peacock? Because without 
a tail it is nothing. 



What is that you can keep after giving to some one 
else? Your word. 



What flowers are there between a lady's nose and 
chin? Two lips (Tulips). 



What is that a cat has which no other animal has? 
Kittens. 



126 FLYING SPARKS. 

AVhat was the first bet ever made? The alphabet. 



Why was Noah the greatest financier on record? Bcr 
cause he kept his company (limited) afloat, when the 
rest of the world was in liquidation. 



What did Adam and Eve do, when they were expelled 
from Eden? They raised Cain. 



When is a dog's tail like a toll gate? When it stops 
a waggin' (wagon). 



What is a green dooryard, covered with snow? In- 
visible green. 



What is the best thing to make in a hurry? Haste. 



What is invisible blue? A policeman when you want 
him. 



How many peas are there in a pint? One P. 



Why was Moses the most wicked man who ever lived? 
Because he broke all the commandments at once. 



Why is a nail fast in the wall like an old man? Be- 
cause it is in firm. 



FLYING SPARKS. 127 



When is a cherry like a book? When it is re(a)d. 



Where was Adam going in his 39th year? Into his 
40th. 



To what age do young ladies wish to attain? Mar- 
riage. 



When is a watermelon like a book? It is not red until 
it is opened, neither is a book. 



Why is a barber and a baby alike? Because they are 
both shavers — one a little shaver and the other a big 
shaver. 



Why is a chicken pie like a gunsmith shop? Because 
it contains fowl in pieces. 



What is that you and every other person has seen, 
but can never see again? Yesterday. 



W^hat did Adam first set in the garden of Eden? His 
foot. 



Who may marry many wives and yet live single all 
his life? A clergyman. 



What man had no father? Joshua, the son of Nun. 



128 



FLYING SPARKS. 



Why is a new born babe like a donkey's tail? Be- 
cause is was never seen before. 



Which is the strongest day in the Aveek? Sunday, be- 
cause all the rest are week days. 



Why is a horse a curious feeder? Because he eats 
best when he has not a bit in his mouth. 




FLYING SPARKS. 129 



A bit of verse, 
A well told tale, 

All in this book 
I have for sale. 

A piece of coin. 
Worth fifty cents. 

If sent to me. 

Brings recompense. 

Send it right now. 
Delay won't pay; 

You'll wish you had, 
Some other day. 



130 FLYING SPARKS. 

GEMS FROM MARCUS AURELIUS. 

¥ ¥ ¥ 
If it is not right, do not do it ; but if not true, do not 
say it. 



God sees the minds of all men, bared of the material 
vesture and rind and impurities. 



It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his 
own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from 
other men's badness, which is impossible. 



Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it 
will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig. 



Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed 
thy life up to the present time ; and live according to 
nature the remainder wiiich is allowed thee. 



Adorn thyself with simplicity and modesty and with 
indifference towards the things which lie between vir- 
tue and vice. Love mankind. Follow God. 



Wipe out thy imaginations by often saying to thyself: 
now it is in my power to let no badness be in this soul, 
nor desire nor any perturbation at all; but, looking at 
all things, I see what is" their nature, and I use each 
according to its value. — Remember tliis power which 
thou hast from nature. 



INLYING SPARKS. 131 

He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He 
who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he 
makes himself bad. 



How hast thou behaved hitherto to the gods, thy par- 
ents, brethren, children, teachers, to those who looked 
after thy infancy, to thy friends, kinsfolk, to thy slaves? 
Consider if thou hast hitherto behaved to all in such a 
way that this may be said of thee: ''Never has wronged 
a man in deed or word." 



I have often wondered how it is that every man loves 
himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less 
value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion 
of others. If then a god or a wise teacher should pre- 
sent himself to a man and bid him to think of nothing 
and to design nothing which he could not express as 
soon as he conceived it, he could not endure it even for 
a single day. So much more respect have we to what 
our neighbors shall think of us than to what we shall 
think of ourselves. 



How unsound and insincere is he wiio says, I have de- 
termined to deal with thee in a fair way. — What art thou 
doing, man? There is no occasion to give this notice. 
It will soon show itself by acts. 



Though thou shouldest be going to live three thou- 
sand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still 
remember that no man loses any other life than this 
which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which 
he now loses. 



132 FLYING SPARKS. 

No longer talk about the kind of man that a good man 
ougrlit to be, but be such. 



If thou findest in human life anything better than 
justice, truth, temperance, fortitude, and, in a word, 
anything better than thy own mind's self-satisfaction 
in the things which it enables thee to do according to 
right reason, and in the condition that is assigned to 
thee without thy own choice ; if, I say, thou seest any- 
thing better than this, turn to it with all thy soul, and 
enjoy that which thou hast found to be the best. 



How many troubles he avoids who does not look to 
see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only 
to what he does himself, that it may be just and pure. 



When another blames thee or hates thee, or what men 
say about thee anything injurious, approach their poor 
souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they 
are. Thou discoverest that there is no reason to take 
any trouble that these men may have this or that opin- 
ion about thee. However, thou must be well disposed 
towards them, for by nature they are friends. 



Accustom thyself to attend carefully to what is said 
by another, and as much as it is possible, be in the 
speaker's mind. 



That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it 
good for the bee. 



FLYING SPARKS. 



133 



It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have 
never intentionally given pain, even to another. 



Nothing should be done without a purpose. 



Attend to the matter which is before thee, whether it 
is an opinion or an act or a word. 




VM FLYING SPARKS. 

SYNOPSIS OFPOETRY. 

¥ ¥ ¥ 
LIFE'S RAILWAY TO HEAVEN. 



AS I WALKED BY MYSELF. 



THINK OF ME LONG. 



EVER BEEN THERE? 



THE OUTCAST. 



A RAILROAD CASIBIANCA. 



MARY'S SKIRT. 



OH MERCY, PATRICIA. 



KNOCK OUT THE BEEF TRUST. 



THERE IS LOVE THAT STIRS THE HEART. 



I HAD A HEART THAT WAS TRUE. 



THE INNER SIDE OF EVERY CLOUD. 



FLYING SPARKS. 13(3 

JOLLY THE FELLOW THAT'S DOWN TODAY. 



AS A RULE A MAN'S A FOOL. 



THLS 'ERE WORLD WE'RE LIVING IN. 



THE MODERN PULLMAN CAR. 



A NEW CHANCE. 



WON'T BE AFFECTED. 



I KNOW NOT. 



SO IT IS, MY DEAR. 



WHEREVER BROTHER HANDS ARE CLASPED. 



ROSES. 



THINGS DON'T SEEM TO PAN OUT RIGHT. 



TALK ABOUT YOUR DINING CAR GRUB. 



THE BLUE AND THE GRAY. 



136 FLYING SPARKS. 

A TRAVELING MAN AT THE GATE. 



TELL HER SO. 



IN A PULLMAN CAR. 



IN YOUR GARDEN ARE MANY ROSES. 



I CONFESS I MUST GRIEVE. 



THE WORLD IS DEAD WITHOUT HAPPINESS. 



NO RETURN TICKET. 



MY COUNTRY (PARISIAN). 



A DEGENERATE TRAINMAN. 



TO HAVE NO CHRIST. 



TO BE LIVING IS SUBLIME. 



THE CANARY. 



SHUN EVIL COMPANIONS. 



FLYING SPARKS. 137 

I HAVE HEARD OF A LAND. 



OH, SHUCKS! 



I WOULD BE TRUE. 



EARTHLY BLISS. 



TPIIS WORLD IS A GAME OF CHANCE. 



JUST FOR TODAY. 



REMEMBER MOTHER'S DAY. 



PRETTY SOON. 



SUCH A PRUDE. 



T LIKE TO SLEEP IN A PULLMAN CAR. 



THE GIRL I LOVE. 



TELL ME, YE WINGED WINDS. 



A JOLLY BIRD IS THE PELICAN. 



1.38 FLYING SPARKS, 

KEEP A GOIN'. 



A SLEEPER IS ONE WHO SLEEPS. 



A TURKISH BATH IS JUST THE THING. 



A TWENTIETH CENTURY TRANSLATION OF THE 
TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. 



KEEP MOVING. 



HOME WORK. 



THERE WAS AN OLD SOLDIER. 



A MAXIM REVISED. 



GOL DARN THAT MAN, SAID DEACON BROWN 



IF NOT, WHY NOT. 



FLYING SPARKS. 139 

LIFE'S RAILWAY TO HEAVEN. 

Life is like a mountain railroad, 

With an engineer that's brave; 
You must make the run successful, 

From the cradle to the grave. 
Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels 

Never falter, never fail; 
Keep* your hand upon the throttle. 

And your eye upon the rail. 

You will roll up grades of trial. 

You will cross the bridge of strife; 
See that Christ is your conductor, 

On this lightning train of life. 
Always mindful of obstructions, 

Do your duty — never fail. 
Keep your hand upon the throttle, 

And your eye upon tb*^ rail. 

You will always find obstructions. 

Look for storms of wind and rain; 
On a fill, or curve or trestle. 

They will almost ditch yof train. 
Put your trust alone in Jesus 

Never falter, never fail; 
Keep your hand upon the throttle, 

And your eye upon the rail. 

As you roll across the trestle. 

Spanning Jordan's swelling tide. 
You behold the Union Depot 

Into which your train will glide. 
There you'll meet the Superintendent, 

God, the Father, God, the Son, 
With the hearty, joyous plaudit, 

"Weary pilgrim, welcome home!" 

— Unknown. 



As I walked by myself, 
I talked to myself. 

Myself says thus to me — 
Beware, take care of thyself, 

For no one cares for thee. 



Think of me long, and think of me ever. 
And think of the fun we've had together. 



140 FLYING SPARKS. 

EVER BEEN THERE? 

Voice (up stairs). John, have you locked the front door? 
Yes. 

Put the cat out? 
Yes. 

Have you wound tlie clock? 
Yes. 

Have you been down in the cellar to smell for gas? 
Yes. 

Have you taken care of the furnace? 
Yes. 

Have you covered the bird cage? 
Yes. 

Have you brought in the hammock? 
Yes. 

Have you looked under the davenport for burglars? 
Yes. 

Have you put the milk bottles out? 
Yes. 

Have you fastened all the windows? 
Yes. 

Have you fixed the ice water? 
Yes. 

Well, then, why don't you come to bed? What have you been 
doing all the time anyway? 

— Unknown. 



I luf to luf ven all de luf ain't on von side. 



THE OUTCAST. 



The cow punchers who used to chase 

The steer across the range, 
Have scattered now to many a place, 

And f oiler callin's strange; 
Tex Jones now runs a dry goods store. 

And Pecos Smith a bank; 
A sailor on some distant shore 

Is our pal. Lefty Hank. 
Missoo is selling autos now, 

And Antelope tends bar; 
And I alone still punch the cow 

While gleams the evening star; 
But one we never speak of, lest 

We shed a bitter tear, 
Three-fingered Jones his life has messed — 

He is a pulpiteer. 

— Arthur Chapman. 



FLYING SPARKS. 141 

R. R. CASIBIANCA. 
The boy stood on the railroad track, 

The train was coming fast. 
He stepped right off the track 

And let the train go by — 
A mighty smart boy was he. 



I don't care, I don't think it is nice; he's gone into the 
kitchen to see the salad dressing. 



MARY'S SKIRT. 

Mary had A little skirt 
And it was built so tight. 

She had to hire a chambermaid 
To peel it off at night. 

They had to carry her around 
And lean her against the wall, 

Because the skirt was so closely fit 
She could not walk at all. 

She ate her meals from off a shelf. 
Because she dared not sit 

Down in a chair like other folks 
For fear her skirt w^ould split. 

But Mary didn't kick at all. 
It was just as she'd wish; 

She couldn't help around the house 
Or wash or wipe a dish. 

— Seattle Sun. 



OH, MERCY, PATRICIA! 
Backward, turn backward. Old Time, in your flight! Give us 
a girl whose skirts are not so tight; give us a girl whose 
charms, many or few, are not exposed by too much peek-a-boo; 
give us a girl, no matter what age, who won't use the street 
for a vaudeville stage; give us a girl not too sharply in view; 
dress her in skirts the sun cannot shine through. And give us 
the dances of days gone by, with plenty of clothes and steps 
not so high; put turkey-trot capers and buttermilk slides, hurdy- 
gurdy twists and wiggle-tail glides and any other such bunny 
hugs all on a level as products of hell, inspired by the devil; 
and let us feast our optics once more on the pure, sweet woman 
of the days of yore. Yes, Time, turn backward and grant our 
request for God's richest blessing, but not undressed. — The 
Roller Monthly. 



142 FLYING SPARKS. 

And if the new tariff doesn't knock out tlie beef trust, it will 
probably be attributed to a bull in its construction, or maybe 
a wrong steer. 

— Stuttgart Arkansawyer. 



There is love that stirs the heart, 
There is love that gives it rest; 

But the love that lifts men upward 
Is the noblest and the best. 

— Henry Van Dyke. 



1 had a heart that was true, 
It iias left me and gx)ne to you. 
So care for it as I have done, 
As you have two and I have none. 



The inner side of every cloud 

Is bright and shining; 
I, therefore, turn my clouds about. 
And always wear them inside out 

To show the lining. 



All I vants, I vant is luff. 



Jolly the fellow that is down today, 
Give him a smile for his sorrow. 

For this world has a funny way — 
We all may be down tomorrow. 



As a, rule, a man is a fool; 
When it's hot, he wants it cool. 
And when it's cool, he wants it hot, 
He's always wanting what is not. 



This 'ere world we're livin' in. 

Is purty hard to beat; 
You git a thorn with every rose; 

But ain't the roses sweet? 

— Frank L, Stanton. 



FLYlxXG STAKKS. 143 



THE MODERN PULLMAN CAR. 

A flame of light down the shining rail. 
Cutting the night with its ribs of steel, 
Leaving a path like a wandering star, 
Goes the modern Pullman car. 

Polished woodwork and curtains of plush, 
Carpeted aisles to deaden the rush 
Of hurrying feet, and break the jar. 
In the modern Pullman car. 

Couches of comfort, with beds of ease, 
Happy go-lucky, do as you please. 
Coming and going, both near and far, 
On the modern Pullman car. 

Service the best by the men who know 
The needs of their patrons, high and low. 
Alert and willing to treat you fair, 
On the modern Pullman car. 

So, whenever you may travel abroad. 
No matter what be your choice of road, 
Take life easy and avoid the jar, 

On the modern Pullman car, — B. T. 



I always like to ride in a Pullman car, 
For accidents you never take a heed, 

For you can ride to your journey's end 

In a Pullman car, never worry about the speed; 

You fly over the ground in a Pullman car. 

And always feel at ease. — M. E. M. 



Each day, each week, each month, each year, is a new chance 
given you by God. A new chance, a new leaf, a new life — 
this is the golden, the unspeakable gift which each new day 
offers to you. 



WON'T BE AFFECTED. 

If your money you'll save. 
If you'll try to behave, 

You can face new laws with a grin; 
But just bet all you've got 
That the Tariff will not 

Cut into the Wages of Sin. 

— Unknown. 



144 FLYING SPARKS. 

Whether thou lovest me, 

I know not; 
Thou knowest it; I only know I die 

Where thou art not. 

— Unknown. 



So it is, my dear. 

All such things touch secret strings, 

For heavy hearts to hear; 

So it is, my dear. — Rossetti. 



Wlierever brother hands are clasped and tight, 
Resolved to battle for the trampled right, 
Th3re is thy sacrament for which search; 
There is thy altar, there thy holy church. 



ROSES. 

This world is full of roses, 

And the stems are full of thorns; 

The roses are so very fragrant, 
That we 'most forget the thorns. 

This world is full of roses. 

And the roses full of love; 
So the world is full of lovers, 

And the lovers full of love. 

This world is full of roses; 

The roses full of Heavenly love; 
Why not love the gracious Giver 

Of the roses loved so well? -M. E. M. 



Things don't seem to pan out right, 

When you're away; 
Just living days and sleeping night. 

When you're away. 

I used to think I didn't care, 

When you went away, or where. 

But, say! Years go by now every da>, 
When you're away. — M. L. 



Talk about your dining car grub, 

And all your rich cafes; 
But give me my mother's good old country grub. 

About three squares per day. — M. E. M. 



FLYING SPARKS. 145 

Again we meet after many years, 

Our muskets put away; 
In gladness now instead of tears — 

We're one — tlie Blue and the Gray. 

No strife or envy now we find, 

'Tis gone in every way, 
A Union built to firmly bind 

The Blue and the Gray. 

In union of heart, soul and mind 

All people now must pray, 
For this is the burden you will find 

With the Blue and the Gray. 

Now, we soldiers, one and all, 

W^e're marching to that day, 
When we must answer to the call — 

The Blue and the Gray. 

And when the bugle gives the sound, 

All fear is chased away; 
Each one in Christ now is found — 

The Blue and the Gray. 

Some guardian angel we cannot see, 
Will waft the soul away; 
To realms above, forever free — 
The Blue and the Gray. 

— Unknown. 



A traveling man stood before Heaven's gate. 

His grave clothes damp with the chill night dew, 

And wearily waited to know his fate. 

While St. Peter rummaged his ledger through. 

At last the old credit man closed his book 
With a slam which rustled his whiskers gray; 

And giving the drummer a freezing look. 
Said, "Nothing today, nothing today." 

— W. o. w. 



But if the oldest friends are best indeed, 
I'd have the proverb otherwise expressed; 

Friends are not best because they're merely old, 
But only old because they proved the best. 

— Unknown. 



146 FLYING SPARKS. 

TELL HER SO. 

Amid the cares of married life, 
In spite of toil and business strife, 
If you value .your sweet wife, 
Tell her so! 

Prove to her you don't forget 
The bond to which the seal is set; 
She's of life's sweetest yet — 
Tell her so! 

When days are dark and deeply blue. 
She has her troubles same as you; 
Show her that your love is true — 
Tell her so! 

There was a time you thought it bliss 
To get the favor of one kiss; 
A dozen now won't come amiss — 
Tell her so! 

Your love for her is no mistake — 
You feel it, dreaming or awake — 
Don't conceal it! For her sake 
Tell her so! 

Don't act as if she had passed her prime, 
As though to please her were a crime; 
If e'er you loved her, now's the time — 
Tell her so! 

She'll return for each caress, 
A hundred fold of tenderness; 
Hearts like hers were made to bless — 
Tell her so! 

You are hers and hers alone; 
Well you know she's all your own; 
Don't wait to "carve it on a stone" — 
Tell her so! 

Never let her heart grow cold — 
Richer beauties will unfold; 
She is worth her weight in gold — 
Tell her so! 

— Unknown, 



Politeness is to do and say, 

The kindest thing in the kindest way. 



FLYING SPARKS. 147 

A PULLMAN CAR. 

On the road, day after day, 
What can drive dull care away? 
Or can bring a ray of cheer 
To a lonely traveler here 
With our loved ones distant' far? 
Nothing like a Pullman car. 

Life is but a journey here, 
Sometimes joyous, sometimes drear, 
Sometimes grave and sometimes gay — 
Changing with each passing day; 
But He who knoweth what is best, 
Hath promised, "I will give you rest." 

Time, like the train, is moving on, 
A moment here and then is gone; 
To enjoy each passing scene 
Trust in the lowly Nazarene; 
Our life will then be filled with love; 
A Pullman here and Heaven above. 

— O. W. Gk)odwin, 
Special Pension Examiner, Ft. Smith. 



In your garden are many roses, 

Some of them are white and some are red, 
Really, I am very fond of roses, 

But I want them now, not when I'm dead. 

Don't w^ait to show me your affection, 
When the earth is piled above my head. 

In your garden there are many roses. 
But I want them now, not when I'm dead. 

Why wait until my labor's ended? 

Don't you think it better, if you said, 
"Please accept this little bunch of roses, 

You want them now, not when you are dead." 

For in your garden there are many roses. 
And their blossoms, like your years, are sped 

Really, I am very fond of roses, 

But I want them now, not when I'm dead. 



I confess I must grieve, 
All I hear I can't believe. 



148 FLYING SPARKS. 

The world is dead without happiness; 

The sweetness in life is found in the way you live it. 



NO RETURN TICKET. 
The car of death he took on earth. 

Defying hell to burn; 
His soul, that knew no second birth. 
Then wished he'd bought a "return." 

—J. A. M. 



PARISIAN. 

My country! may she always be right, 
But my country, right or wrong; 

My family! may it always be right. 
But my family, right or wrong; 

Myself! may I always be right. 

But myself, right or wrong. — Life. 



THE DEGENERATE TRAINMAN. 
When fatal wrecks bestrewed the track, 

A hero proved he brave, 
But now, a trainman gone to wrack, 

Himself he will not save. 

Time was, a lady's life he saved 

From death's appalling grip, 
But now that wife the wretch enslaved. 

Drinks poison from his lips. 

That day he ne'er can quite forget 

He saved a baby boy; 
But now his heart's no longer set 

On kids, though once his joy. — J. A. M. 

Going to K. C, Car 1, Berth 4. 



O, to have no Christ, no Savior, no hand, 

to clasp thine own; 
Through the dark, dark vale of shadows, 

thou must pass thy way alone. 

And when, at last, I near the shore. 

And the fearful breakers roar; 

'Twixt me and that heavenly rest, 

Then, while leaning on thy breast. 

May I hear thee say to me, 

"Fear not, I will pilot thee." —Unknown. 



FLYI?<G SPARKS. 



149 



We are living, we are dwelling 
In a grand and awful time; 

In an age on ages telling, 
To be living is sublime. 



-Hymn. 



THE CANARY. 

Little captive in your cage, 
Does it never seem an age 
To you there from day to day, 
From your kindred far away? 

You have neither nest or mate- 
Yet you blithely sing and wait. 
What a pretty price to give 
For the privilege to live. 



— Unknown. 



SHUN EVIL COMPANIONS. 

If I were as virtuous as you are, 
I'd seek evil companions, 
That they might see in me 
Sin by the light of 
The virtue in me. 
With saints all around me 
Where sinners should be, 
I'd stand like a lighthouse 
Concealed from the sea. 

— Paul Krueger's Poems. 



I have heard of a land 
On a far-away strand, 

In the Bible the story is told; 
Where cares never come, 
Even darkness or gloom. 

And nothing shall ever grow old. 



-Old Hymn. 



OH, SHUCKS! 

The lovers had a quarrel sad 

O'er who should be the master; 
And so, to patch things up, he had 

To use lots of court plaster. 

— Unknown. 



150 FLYING SPARKS. 

There are too many blamed men, selling schemes for a plug, 
to lay up much gold at this stage of the game. 



The elevator to Success has stopped running. Take the stairs. 



I would be true, for there are those that trust me; 

I would be pure, for there are those who care; 
1 would be strong, for there is much to suffer; 

I would be brave, for there is much to dare. 

— Unknown. 



EARTHLY BLISS. 



When the corn is on the cob, wife. 

And the butter's on the corn. 
With the salt and pepper fresco 

Wliich the outfit should adorn, 
Tie your apron around my nock, dear, 

And I'll be right on the job. 
Gee, I'm glad teeth were invented, 

When the com is on the cob. 

— Unknown. 



This world is a game of chance, 
And if you wed the girl of your choice, 
'Tis the same old risk. 
And you take a chance. 

You may live in peace or live in war. 
It matters little who you are; 
Your bunch of happiness you may take. 
And still you run a chance. 

Still man and wife can live together 
Without any strife thro' all kinds of weather; 
And this is the life so filled with love. 
Which is like the seventh heaven above. 

And this is the life man and wife should live, 
Without any strife, willing to forgive 
Each other's faults as they play the game. 
And take the chances just the same. 

— By M. E. TI 



FLYING SPARKS. 151 



JUST FOR TODAY. 

Are you living a Christian, 

Day after day? 
Are you living a Christian 

Thro' life's thorny way? 
Oh, what a great satisfaction to live 
a Christian 
Day after day. 

Oh, sinner friend, why don't you 

live a Christian 
And have and feel that sweet smile; 
Oh, why not live a Christian, 

Just for today. 

I want to live a Christian 

More each day; 
Oh, what a great blessing to know 

That you are living a better Christian 
Every day. 

Oh, sinner friend, you cannot know 

What a joy to live a Christian, 
If you don't try to live this life 
Jtist for today. 

Oh, why not live this life. 

Just for today? 
And then you will want to live 
Another just like this. 
Every day. 

Oh, sinner friend, I would love to see you 

Live this life; 
Today is the best day to live a Christian; 
Oh,. why not live this life. 

Just for today. 

And then, when we live a Christian, 
What a satisfaction it will be to us, 

When we cross the way, 
"Where cares never come, 
Neither darkness nor gloom, 
And nothing shall ever grow old." 

—By M. E. M. 



152 FLYING SPARKS 



REMEMBER MOTHER'S DAY. 

O, let us remember Mother's Day; 
O, let us wear a carnation. 
Happy are you that wear the red, 
Or sorrowful you who the white must wear, 
As it silently speaks of a loved one dead; 
But be sure that you a carnation wear, 
For the living or dead, for mother dear. 
Remember what mother has done for you 

Before the years have sped; 
When j'^ou were sick, "Dear, you are feeling better now," 

Were the words she always said, 
As she placed a cooling hand upon your aching head. 

Do you remember when you were a child in her arms, 

What a care you were to her then. 

And when to kids of larger size you had grown, 

Her care became worry and pain; 
She was afraid you would get in the pond. 

Or fall from the roof of the shed. 
And how we would over the country roam, swimming 

And fishing, or over at Johnnie's, playing ball, 
But, night coming on, we heard the call of home, sweet home, 

And we hastened on, 
Knowing full well we kids would be fed on mother's 

Good things ere we went to bed. 

Sometimes mother kissed us, and all she said, was 

"Where have you been all day long?" 
Then she said, "Just wash hands and faces until they shine. 
And I will give you some butter and bread with some good 

Second spread, which is good for boys and girls." 
And fresh ginger snaps, perhaps she'd add, 'til we almost 

forgot that we'd been bad. 
But some of us now are women and men, and in mem'ry are 

living those days again, 
And we know that all in life we've had has been made ours 

through our parents' aid. 



FLYING SPARKS. 153 

Do you remember the words which mother said, 

When we stubbed our toes or cried for bread? 

She tied up our toes and kissed us and said, 

"It won't hurt you now." We believed all she said, 

And we felt her dear kiss on our young cheeks so fair, 

And saw her sweet smile as she smoothed our hair. 

Oh, what a great blessing for one to have a mother's 

care and a father's love. 
As we journey thro' this world so fair, to the land 

above, just over there — 
And abundant entrance may we all have as we come to 

that country so bright and fair. 

No matter how much we do for them now. 

We can never repay the debt we owe; 

But they see and know all we try to do, and daily 

appreciation show 
Of oar love for them, though they're growing old. 
But if we are Christians, it sweetens their joy, 
And they forget our shortcomings, glad to know 
That whatever else they might not have done. 
This one thing they did, led the children home 
To the Father's house far beyond the sky. 
If we care how we live in this world so fair. 
Then when we leave it with all its care, 
Well meet mother and all our loved ones again, 

"Where care never comes. 

And nothing shall ever grow old." 

She is just as sweet, though her hair is gray. 

And we love her better day after day. 

If as a faithful Christian she passed on before. 

Where father awaits on the other shore, 

Consolation it brings, though our hearts are sad. 

And thro' coming years we must all be glad — 

Our dear Lord gave us the parents we had. 

I hope you are wearing a carnation red, for if it is 

white, then your heart is sad; 
But smile thro' your tears and sing as you go. 
For the Savior will care for the loved ones over there. 
And they'll tell Him you're coming their joys to share. 
When earth life is past with all its care. 



154 FLYING SPARKS. 

fiow mother worked for us night and day, 
And for boys and girls how often did pray, 
That her children as Christians might live every day. 
Have you answered that prayer of so long ago? 
Be she living today or gone on before, 
Stop and think, dear one, I implore, 
And answer that prayer of your mother dear. 
Just for today. 

A mother's love and a mother's prayer, 
The sweetest thing the world has known 
Except Jesus' love and His sacrifice. 
Which has given to us our Paradise, 
Where our sainted loved ones gone before. 

Are safe with Him forevermore. 
So let us remember Mother's Day and wear a carnation; 
If she is living, one of red, but of purest white 

if she is dead. 

— by M. E. M. 



PRETTY SOON. 



I'm tired of waiting for Pretty Soon, 

Will it come on the wings of Tomorrow's bright noon, 

Will it bring with it you? 
Will it really come true, shall I have you and hold you. My 
Own, 

Pretty soon? — Unknown. 



SUCH A PRUDE. 

She is stopping at the Mountain House, 

But great seclusion seeks. 
She always dresses in the dark, 

Because the mountain peeks. — Life, 



I like to sleep in a Pullman car, 

You can always sleep and be at ease; 
And when it is time to arise, 

You will always feel well pleased. 
And when the wind's blast does blov/, 

In a Pullman car you are safe from outside freeze, 
And when on the train you take a ride. 

Be sure to always take a Pullman car for ease. 

— M. E. M. 



FLYING SPARKS. 155 



THE GIRL I LOVE. 

You ought to see the girl I love, 
She has brown eyes and brown hair, 

So she has. 
Say, I would wade on my knees, 
Thro' a drove of bumblebees, 
For the girl I love so fair — 

Yes, I would. 
She has brown eyes and brown hair, 

Yes, she has — 
The girl I love so fair. 

She lives in the Ozark Valley, 
But I don't care. 

For I love my girl with the brown eyes and brown hair, 
So fair- 
Yes, I do. 

I would wade on my knees, 

Thro' a drove of bumblebees, 

For the girl I love so fair — 
Yes, I would. 

The sweetest flower of the valley, 
Ladened with sweet ozone breezes. 

Don't compare 
With the girl I love so fair, 
With brown eyes and brown hair, 
She's the flower of the valley, 
Yes, she is; 
I would wade on my knees. 
Thro' a drove of bumblebees, 
For the girl I love so fair — 
Yes, I would. 

—By M. E. M. 



Tell me, ye winged winds, that round my pathway, war. 

Is there no place on earth where men folks cease to snore? 

If such there be, pray let me know. 

And to that place I'll quickly go; 

I'll pack my trunk this very night: 

I'll go alone, without a light; 

I'll crav/1 clear there upon all fours. 

Before I'll sleep with a man that snores. — A. R. 



A jolly bird is the pelican; his bill can hold more than his 
belican. He can take in his beak enough food for a week, but 
we don't understand how in helican. —Walt Mason. 



156 FLYING SPARKS. 

KEEP A-GOIN'. 

If you strike a thorn or rose, 

Keep a-goin'; 
If it hails or if it snows, 

Keep a-goin'; 
'Taint no use to sit and whine, 
When the fish ain't on the line, 
Bait your hook and keep a tryin'; 

Keep a-goin' . 

When the weather kills your crop, 

Keep a-goin'; 
When you tumble from the top. 

Keep a-goin'; 
S'ppose you're out o' every dime, 
Gittin' broke ain't any crime, 
Tell the world you're doin' fine; 

Keep a-goin'. 

When it looks like all is up. 

Keep a-goin'; 
Drain the sweetness from the cup. 

Keep a-goin'; 
See the wild bird on the wing. 
Hear the bells that sweetly ring, 
When you feel like singin', sing, 

Keep a-goin'. 

— Frank L. Stanton. 



A sleeper is one who sleeps. A sleeper is a car in which 
the sleeper sleeps. A sleeper is that on which the sleeper runs 
while the sleeper sleeps. Therefore, while the sleeper sleeps 
in the sleerer under the sleeper, the sleeper carries the sleeper 
over the sleeper under the sleeper until the sleeper which 
carries the sleeper jumps the sleeper and wakes the sleeper in 
the sleeper by striking the sleeper on the sleeper, and there 
is no longer any sleeping in the sleeper on the sleeper. 

— ^Unknown. 



A Turkish bath is just the thing 

As a bracer it's a wonder; 
Makes your nerves go ting-a-ling, 

And your worries go to thunder. 

— Unknown. 



FLYING SPARKS. 157 

TWENTIETH CENTURY TRANSLATION OF THE* 
TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. 

1. My wife is my boss; I shall not deny. 

2. She maketh me lie down behind the bed when swell 
company comes, and she leadeth me behind her up Main St. 

3. She restoreth my pocket book after she spent all its 
contents on hobble skirts and theatre tickets, and she leadeth 
me up the main aisle at church for her new hat's sake. 

4. Yea, though I walk more than half the night through 
dark rooms v/ith a crying baby, I will get no rest, for she is 
behind me; her broom stick and hat pin they do everything 
else but comfort me. 

5. She prepareth a cold snack for me, then maketh a bee 
line for an Aid Society supper; she anointeth my head with a 
rolling pin occasionally; my arms with bundles runneth over 
before she is half done shopping. 

6. Surely her dressmaker and millinery bills shall follow 
me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of my 
wife forever. — Ex. 



KEEP MOVING. 



There's only one method of meeting life's test — 
Just keep on a stirring and hope for the best; 
Don't give up the ship and retire in dismay, 
'Cause hammers are thrown, where you'd like a bouquet. 

The world would be tiresome; we'd all have the blues 
If all the folks in it held just the same views. 
So finish your work, show the best of your skill; 
Some people won't like you, but other folks will. 

If you're leading an army or building a fence, 
Do the best that you can with your own common sense. 
One small word of praise in this journey of tears 
Outweighs in the balance 'gainst carloads of cheers. 

The plants that are posing as commonplace weeds, 
Oft prove to be just what a sufferer needs. 
So keep right on moving, don't stay standing still, 
Some people won't like us, but other folks will. 

— Unknown. 



HOME WORK. 

"Has your wife given up lecturing since you married her?' 
"Only in public." 



158 FLYING SPARKS. 



POETRY. 

There was an old soldier and he had a wooden leg, 

He had no tobacco, no tobacco could he beg; 

There was another old soldier who was cunning as a fox. 

Who always had tobacco in his old tobacco box. 

Said the first old soldier, "Will you give me a chew?" 

Said the second old soldier, "I'll be damned if I do; 

If you stop drinking booze and save up your rocks. 

You'll always have tobacco in your old tobacco box." 

— Unknown. 



A MAXIM REVISED. 

Ladies, to this advice give heed — 

In controlling men, 
If at first you don't succeed, why 

Just cry, cry again. 

— Philadelphia Bulletin. 



"Gol dern that man," said Deacon Brown, 

"I think he's the peskiest cuss in town. 

I didn't think that he stood much show 

When we traded horses a week ago. 

I knew that my horse was a little blind, 

But a woman could drive him, he was that kind; 

His boss had the heaves, the measly skate. 

And I never knew it until too late; 

A feller's chance is mighty slim, 

A doin' business with whelps like him. 

"When a man skins me," said Deacon Brown, 
With a snap of his jaw and a vicious frown, 
"He's skinnin' a feller what don't forget. 
And I'll get my revenge some day, you bet; 
If I was sinful, I wouldn't care, but I am a deacon 

and I can't swear. 
Say, I'd give another boss, gee whizz, 
To call him jest what I think he is. 

—William P. Kirk. 



IP NOT, WHY NOT 



Live this life so when we come to the River of Time 
we can look across to the land on the other shore, 
"Where cares never come. 
Even darkness or gloom. 
And nothing shall ever grow old." — M. E. M. 



FLYING SPARKS. 159 



I sold to you a book once yet, 

And through dot, I'm so glad we met. 

On dis one thing my heart's been set, 

Dot we again togedder get, 

For I've anodder book already yet. 

For dot friend of yours some day to get. 

De price is fifty cents already yet. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



KANSAS CITY, MO., 




HOT SPRINGS, ARK. 



